The One, the Two
by Kage NoTenshi
Summary: (AU, take on The Matrix) Asakura Yoh just wanted to find his vanished brother, but what he found was a new reality and the fact that he just might be The One...except for some unexpected competition...
1. Prologue

I usually don't start posting a story until I've finished to assure that I won't leave my readers hanging for months at a time in the middle of the action in the case of writer's block, but I felt like I owed it to you all after being gone for so long.  So I give you the prologue to my current project.

It's something of a rewrite of _The Matrix_ (a fascinating movie, though not my favorite) with the casting done from Shaman King.  Minor characters from the Matrix may remain the same, but all the major ones are Mankin.  The beginning will sound like almost a carbon copy of the movie, but then it will branch off into something rather different.  

This is especially for da*mouse, who is a devoted fan of both SK and _The Matrix._

The One…the Two… Prologue 

            The night was dark, the clouds yielding little to the tired, dingy moon.  Outside a rundown hotel building, a large number of police cars had gathered, many of the men still milling about in the street, unsure and apprehensive.  They were waiting for the two units of heavily armed men inside, heading toward the target door several stories up.

            In the street below, several new cars arrived, their pale gray-uniformed occupants stepping smoothly out as they stopped. 

            "Oh great," muttered the policeman before turning to the leader of the newcomers, a girl with long pale hair and abundant metal adding to her outfit.

            "You were instructed to wait, lieutenant," she said frostily.

            "Yeah, well…"

            "It was for your own safety."

            He suppressed a scoff.  "I sent in two units.  I think that should be enough to arrest one little girl."

            "Lieutenant," said the long-haired girl, walking toward the building, her followers striding after her, drawing firearms as they went, "your men are already dead."

            Inside, the squads had burst in the door to find a lone girl sitting in front of a computer.  _Doesn't look too dangerous,_ thought the leader.  "Stop!" he called, mustering all the authority he could into his voice.  "Put your hands on your head!  Do it!  Now!"

            Slowly, the girl in black obeyed, her fingers gradually rising to the level of her blond hair.  _Not bad,_ he thought, pulling out a pair of handcuffs, _I don't see what the big deal's about…_

            He didn't get any farther.  The girl whipped around suddenly, the beads about her neck hitting him hard on the face.  She took out another two with just her hands as weapons and then vaulted halfway across the room, downing another one with a well-placed kick.  Sprinting up the wall to avoid a spray of bullets from the comrades, she landed again in a completely different spot, taking the men by surprise.

            In very little time, she was the only one left standing.  Picking up her cell phone, she put it to her ear.  "Manta?"

            "Get out of there," said the voice on the other end.  "Anna-san, there are more coming."

            "Any Agents?"

            "Yes.  Run.  Do you need an exit?"

            "I already know the closest one.  Wells and Lake."  She flipped the phone into off position and stepped out of the room just as the elevator doors at the end of the hall opened.  The girl in the metal uniform stepped out, a large pistol at ready.

            Anna cursed under her breath and turned down another passage.  "Holy Agent Jeanne!" she muttered, sparks of white light bursting around her as the bullets ricocheted off the walls on either side.  "This isn't my day."

            Anna made it up to the roof and took off at full speed, knowing Jeanne would be close behind.  Leaping a meter across, she landed on top of another building, hoping to put significant distance behind her and her pursuers.  The Agent and the accompanying police, of course, made it across too, but she wasn't done yet.

            Up ahead, a busy street ran between her building and another; the gap between was several meters across and at least five stories high.  Unflinchingly, Anna leapt, her black skirt rippling in the wind.  She rolled as she landed, breaking the impact.  A moment later, Jeanne crossed the gap (alone, as none of the policemen knew how), but Anna was already out of sight.  

            Hiding behind a large block of concrete jutting from the roof of the building, Anna caught her breath.  She was close to her exit, but that blasted Agent was something of a problem.  Her eyes swept over the scene before her.  Another building not far away…  A sketchy plan formed itself in her mind, and she decided to risk it.  

            Taking a deep breath, she made a break for it, sprinting across the roof and diving into thin air.  Controlling her fall carefully, she crashed headfirst through the window she had aimed at and tumbled down the staircase inside.  Two pistols were ready in her hands as she landed at the bottom, aimed toward the window through which she had come, ready for any follower.  

            But no one came.  She was shaking, the adrenaline battling the increasing amounts of lactic acid within her, the sudden stillness unnerving.  Then she leapt to her feet and headed down the stairs to the street outside.  It was empty except for a lone truck as she turned a corner, her goal in sight.  It was a dingy telephone booth, and the phone had just begun to ring.  The truck turned as it did, and she raced desperately toward the booth.  _Just get to the receiver…_  

            The truck revved its engine and headed toward her.  It would reach the phone before she did…  She made it, bolting inside and grabbing the receiver, even as the truck's headlights blinded her.  Then everything was over in a crash as the fender plowed through the phone booth and into the wall behind it.  

            The door on the driver's side opened, and a tall blond man with glasses stepped out.  He surveyed the damage, frowning.  

            Anna was gone.

            Jeanne walked up behind him.

            "Did we get anything from the room, Agent-sama?" he asked him, his eyes not leaving the wreckage.

            "The name of their next target: Asakura Yoh, sometimes referred to by the codename Neo."

            "We must get a search running."

            "It's already begun."

            They didn't see the figure disappear just around the corner with a smirk.  The figure, a blue-haired girl in a black tube top and jean shorts, glided through the shadows toward another telephone booth.  She looked back with a smug grin as the phone began to ring.  "Always so good at making a diversion," she muttered, and picked up the receiver.

To be continued… 


	2. Follow the White Rabbit

Forgot my disclaimer on the first chapter.  Does it really matter?  I mean, they're fun and all, but isn't the point of fanfiction that you _don't_ own the series?

In other randomness, I am annoyed because the Japanese bookstore near my house carries SK manga only up to 12.  Thank goodness for the Internet.  I am also annoyed because when I lived in Japan this summer with my sister, I found out my neighbor there has a good friend whose daughter knows Hiroyuki Takei-sama.  But I didn't get to meet him.  Of course, with my rudimentary Japanese, it probably wouldn't have been much good, but still…  I also think she said he's stopped drawing, but I really hope I misinterpreted, because that would be awful.  

If anyone has continued reading my ramblings to this point, I admire your mental pain threshold greatly.  

            Asakura Yoh slept quietly, not caring as he slept that his face was resting rather uncomfortably on a tangle of wires on his desk.  The computer before him continued to run its search quietly.  A watch in the mess beeped its hourly chime, signaling the arrival of exactly eleven at night.  He stirred groggily, and then opened his eyes; the computer screen had gone suddenly black except for a few words.

            _Wake up, Neo…_

_            Or should I say, Yoh…_

            He sat up, staring at the words in confusion.  Who would know his Internet alias _and_ his real name?  The screen seemed to wipe itself blank.  "What…?"  He hit the escape key and then Alt and F4 at the same time, but to no avail.  More words appeared.

            _Do you want to know what the matrix is?_

            "The matrix…?"  But his heart skipped a beat.  Maybe this was what he had been searching for…

            Blank once more.  Then:

            _Follow the white rabbit…_

            His hopes fell.  This was all just some kind of joke, a hoax instead of the lead he so badly wanted.

            _Knock, knock, Yoh…_

            He jumped at the sound of a firm fist on his door.  Suddenly nervous, he glanced at the source of the noise and then back to the screen.  The words were gone.

            "Hey!  Hao, you in there?" came a voice.  

            He sighed.  His brother's friends.  Making his way through the piles of junk on the floor, he looked out.  "Hao's not home."  _And hasn't been for a month, but I'm not gonna say that._

            "Well, does he have the stuff ready for me?" asked the visitor, a young man with definitely more piercings than was healthy, and an entourage of similarly clad friends.

            Yoh understood what he meant.  "I'll check.  You got the money?"

            The man held up a thick handful of bills.

            Yoh nodded tiredly and shut the door.  Walking over to a cluttered set of shelves, he pulled out a book and flipped it open.  It was actually more of a box, with the insides of the pages cut out, and a number of small disks lay inside.  Shuffling through them and glancing at the labels, he pulled out one and returned the book to the shelf.

            Opening the door again a crack, he held it up.  "Yeah, it's here."

            "Great," said the man, handing him the money and taking the disk.  "This is a lifesaver.  Thanks."

            "Sure," said Yoh, uninterestedly.  He had never cared for the crowd his brother's hacking deals drew.  

            "Hey, why don't you come out with us tonight," offered the man.  "You look like you need to get out."

            "Oh…no, that's okay."

            "Come on.  It'll be fun; I promise."

            The girl next to him shifted impatiently, ready to leave.  Something on her arm caught Yoh's eye: a tattoo of a small white rabbit.

            Shaken, Yoh nodded.  "Yeah…sure, I'll come."

            The place, wherever it was that they took him (Yoh never went out much at night), made him feel decidedly out of place.  The music was too loud, and the flashing lights made him dizzy.  The people he had come with were dancing or downing beers, but something told him to keep his head clear; he couldn't be sure why.  

            Out of the mists of cigarette smoke hazing the already dim room, a girl seemed to materialize, wearing a sleeveless black dress with a skirt that rippled around her knees.  "Hello, Yoh," she said quietly, but he caught every word through the loud music.

            He tensed at the sound of his own name.  "How did you know…?"

            "I know a lot about you.  I've been waiting to meet you for some time."

            He backed away just a little, his hand brushing the wall behind him.  "Who are you?"

            "My name is Anna," she said casually, as if it should mean nothing.  She was uncomfortably close, but he really couldn't have heard her very well if she hadn't been.  A new song had started, much louder than before.

            "Anna?" he queried, something clicking in the back of his mind.  Hao had mentioned that name once when talking about some hacking incident.  "Kyouyama Anna?  The one who cracked the IRS Kansas City D-base?"

            She almost smiled, pleased that he knew.  "That was a long time ago."

            He turned away in disbelief.  "Yow…"  What would someone as skilled as her want with him?  And…

            "What?"

            "Hao just…I mean, I had always assumed you were a guy.  You know, with a female screen name.  It happens a lot."

            "Most guys think so," she said indifferently.  

            "Uh…do you want to talk somewhere else?"  Hao would kill for this chance, to talk to _the _Kyouyama Anna face to face.  But Hao wasn't here.  He would have been better at making intelligent conversation with a woman too, Yoh mused with faint amusement.

            "No.  There is very little time, and it's safe here right now."

            "O…okay…"

            "I have to warn you, Yoh.  You are in a lot of danger."  She spoke slowly, emphasizing every word.  

            "What??  Why?"

            "They're watching you.  Somehow something went wrong and they found you.  Usually, if our target is exposed, we let it go.  But this time, we simply can't."

            "I…I don't get it," said Yoh, feeling unusually thick.  If only she weren't standing so close…

            "It has to do with a question, the question you've been looking for an answer for."

            _Where is Hao?_ was the first thing he thought of.  But that couldn't be it.  It was too specific.  She had to be looking for something more general…the clue he had been searching for.  "The matrix," he whispered.  "What is the matrix?"

            "Twelve years ago, I met a man who told me that no one can be told the answer to that question.  They have to see it, to believe it," she said quietly, as cryptically as ever, but Yoh felt strangely intrigued.  "He said that no one should go looking for it unless they really have to, because once you see it, everything changes.  Nothing is left the same.  The truth is out there, Yoh…  It is looking for you, and, if you want it to, it will find you.  It has found others…"

            _She knows,_ he thought vaguely.  _She knows something about Hao._  He opened his mouth to ask, but she cut him off.

            "That's all I can tell you right now."  She stepped back and studied him, as if appraising his ability to cope with the truth.  A shadow of incredulity crossed her face.  "Good luck."  She turned, her skirt flaring the tiniest bit.

            "Wait," he said suddenly.  "Who was that man?  The one who told you…"

            She glanced back at him.  "You _know_ who, Yoh."

            And then she was gone.

To be continued… 

Hm… Hao-sama will appear eventually, though not too soon, because of how the story falls.  He's the most fun to write, though, especially when interacting with Yoh.


	3. Two Perplexing Phone Calls

**Just reloaded the chapter.  Special thanks to AKIDA Yamakusa for catching my incredibly stupid and potentially confusing typo.  **

Sorry if it threw a few people off, but, no, Hao is not Smith.  I leave the role of the Agents to the X-Laws.  Hao's role is not in the original Matrix movie, but is an addition of mine to make things more interesting for me to write.  ^_~

And to unpredictable.l, sorry, I have no idea how long this will end up being.  Dreadfully disorganized, you see…

            The next day did not start out well for Yoh.  Tired from staying out late, he overslept and was late for work, which he did not really want to go to anyway.  It was a software developing company; he did quite well, and Hao had worked there too, but now it had lost its thrill.  The brothers had taught themselves and each other everything there was to possibly know about computers, and Hao had landed them respectable jobs at it too.  But the elder Asakura had also chosen to branch off into a more lucrative and riskier profession as well: hacking.  

            Yoh had never approved, but he was not going to stand in his brother's way.  They had both kept legal jobs, and had been rather close as it was.  Their cubicles had always been next to each other; they had still lived together to save on rent; they worked on projects together, Hao's stolen knowledge adding to their skills.  

            But then something had happened.  Yoh suspected it had been something his brother had found with his fellow hackers, but he wasn't sure.  All he knew was that Hao suddenly became more distant, occupied with something else, something secret.  He had heard him muttering in his sleep, words like "matrix" and "Agents" and, once, "Anna."

            And then Hao had simply disappeared.

            Yoh had searched for him, combing the Internet for any clues his brother might have left behind.  He had found other hackers who might have known his brother, but they offered little help.  Then he looked for some explanation on the matrix, as that had been what Hao had mused on most.  To his surprise, no one seemed to know precisely what it was, though there were many theories.  And many of them were tied to a man named Morpheus.  

            Yoh shoved the thoughts from his mind.  His boss, Rhineheart, was wrapping up his lecture on attitude and being late for work.  Yoh pretended to have been listening, and nodded.  

            "What did he say?" queried a tall co-worker from a nearby cubicle as Yoh slouched into his own.

            "He said that I'd better not be late to work again, or I'd be fired," grumbled Yoh.

            "Oh," said the other man.  "Well, it was nice working with you."

            "That's not funny, Ryuu," said Yoh, though he failed to muster any malice into his voice.  _Oy…not a good day…_  He sank into his chair, trying to muster enough energy to get to work.

            "Excuse me.  Asakura Yoh?" came a voice from behind him.

            He jerked awake and turned to see a FedEx man with a package in his hand.  "Yeah.  Yeah, that's me."  He signed and took the large envelope, waiting until the man was gone to rip it open.  There was no return address, and he couldn't remember ordering anything.

            It was a plain black cell phone.

            Puzzled, he took it out and then nearly fell out of his chair as it rang the instant it was in his hand.

            Completely nonplussed, he flipped it open and put it to his ear.  "Hello?"

            "Hello, Neo.  Or I could be formal and say Asakura Yoh.  Can I use Yoh-kun?"

            Yoh blinked several times.  "Um…okay.  Can I help you?"

            "Yoh," said the voice, serious again, "do you know who this is?"

            "Morpheus," said Yoh absently, hoping whoever was on the other end didn't mind hacker inside jokes.

            "That's right."

            "What??  I was jo…okay, fine…so you're Morpheus.  What's up?"  He'd play along with this for a little.  It sure beat working.

            "I had hoped we could have this conversation under more favorable conditions, Yoh-kun, but you can never count on hope, can you?"

            "…no…"

            "I've been watching you, Yoh-kun, and I want to meet you.  I don't know if you're ready to see what I want to show you, but it appears we have run out of time."

            _That's what Anna said.  Is this for real?_

"They're coming for you, and I'm not sure what they're going to do to you."

            A chill ran down Yoh's spine.  "Who?"

            "Stand up and see for yourself.  Slowly.  The elevator."

            Keeping his head down, Yoh stood carefully and looked.  The elevator door opened, and two rather intimidating figures stepped out.  One was a girl clad in black and metal with long pale hair, and the other was a tall blond man in an almost-white uniform.  Several cops accompanied them.  They stopped to ask the closest employee something, and he pointed toward Yoh's cubicle.  

            Yoh ducked back down hurriedly.  "What do they want with me?" he demanded, feeling panic snagging hold of him.

            "I'm not precisely sure, but if you don't want to find out, I suggest you get out of there."

            "How??"

            "Do exactly as I say.  The cubicle across from you is empty.  Move now!"

            He did, feeling a pang of emotion as he dove into what was once Hao's workplace and slid into the faint shadows under the desk.  

            "Just wait."

            The two newcomers walked slowly towards his cubicle and turned, searching it with their eyes.  He waited, holding his breath, not sure why he was shaking.  

            "A little longer," came Morpheus' voice softly.  

            The two turned away.  He could hear them talking quietly, questioning.  "I dunno where he went," came Ryuu's voice.  "Maybe for a drink of water."

            They walked off, and Yoh forced himself to breathe slowly.  

            "Now," said Morpheus, still on the phone, "go down to the end of the row and into the first office on the left.  Stay as low as you can."

            _Don't need to tell me that,_ thought Yoh.  

            "Now."

            He darted out from Hao's cubicle and moved as quickly as he could while almost bent double.  To his surprise, he actually made it into the designated office.  

            "Good.  There is a window to your left.  Open it."

            "How do you…?"

            "Explanations later.  Go out the window and to the scaffolding nearby.  Use it to climb to the roof."

            "But…"

            "Go!"

            Yoh opened the window and made the mistake of looking down.  The ground seemed so horribly far away.  "I can't!  I hate heights!  I…"

            "You're giving in to fear.  There are only two ways out of this building.  One is by the scaffolding, and the other is in _their_ custody."  He didn't have to say whom.

            "But…"

            "You take a chance either way.  But it's up to you."  The phone went dead as Yoh stared at it in horror.  

            "I can't…" he moaned, even if Morpheus was no longer listening.  Stepping out of the window with great trepidation, he stood on the ledge, unable to tear his eyes from the street far below.  

            The phone rang again.  

            He answered it.  "Morpheus, I just _can't_ –"

            "Yoh!" said a new voice, "just listen to me!"

            Yoh froze.  It wasn't Morpheus.

            "Hao?"

            "That's right.  Just listen to me.  You have to…"

            "Where have you been?" shouted Yoh, relief flooding through him.  _Hao was alive, he was talking to him._  

            "It doesn't matter right now.  Look, you need to get to the scaffolding and climb to the roof.  It's not too far…"

            "I know.  Morpheus told me."

            "Morpheus?"  Hao muffled a curse.  "Look, just get to the scaffolding and –"

            A sudden gust of wind took Yoh by surprise.  He swayed for a moment, almost falling, but his hand caught the window.

            The phone slipped from his grasp.

            He watched it tumble from the ledge and disappear in the distance as it plummeted down thirty stories to the street below.  "Hao!  No!"

            "You!  Stop!"

            He turned, still a mass of tangled emotions from losing his only contact with his brother.  Several policemen were standing in the office behind him, guns drawn.  He had not been fast enough.

*

            No one noticed Anna watching silently, displeasure in her eyes, as the cops loaded a handcuffed and completely bewildered Yoh into the back of a police car.

To be continued… 


	4. Nightmares and a Missed Chance

Urgh…writer's block.  This may slow down a bit, especially once the school year gets under way.  I've planned what I want to write, so it's not for lack of ideas; it's just getting it put down right and having the time to do so.  

In response to the various questions: this will be slight YoNa (possibly a one-sided HaNa, as boiya puts it), I update sporadically when my muses feel so inclined, and Hao is neither with Morpheus nor the Agents, but what his is exactly remains to be told.  

            Waiting alone in a room empty except for a table and two chairs, Yoh folded his hands nervously.  _I didn't do anything.  What's going on?_

            He looked up as the door opened, admitting the two people he had seen before plus one more in a similar uniform as the man.  The girl in metal was carrying a folder, which she placed on the table as the blond man seated himself across from the detainee.

            "Mr. Asakura," he started calmly, his eyes glinting behind his glasses, "as you can see, we have had our eye on you for quite some time now.  I must admit, you seem like such a _good_ boy at first glance.  It was most disappointing to see that you have not kept to the straight and narrow path."

            "What did I do?" asked Yoh helplessly.  "I really don't understand, Mr. uh…"

            "Agent Marco," said the man coldly.  "Must I really elaborate, Mr. Asakura?  You have long known the whereabouts and activities of the notorious hacker SoF, though perhaps you know him as Asakura Hao.  You reported none of this."

            "He's my brother!" exclaimed Yoh desperately.  _I almost knew where he was…_

            "In addition, you also have recently been combing the Internet under the alias Neo, often associating with other hackers your brother knew.  This could _completely_ ruin your future, Mr. Asakura."

            Yoh sank down in his chair.  "What are you going to do to me?"

            "Well, as it is, we need your help, Mr. Asakura.  We know already that you have been contacted by a man who calls himself Morpheus.  Whatever you think you know about him is irrelevant.  In reality, he is wanted for terrorism in more countries than any other man in the world, often considered by authorities as the most dangerous man alive."

            There was something unnerving about his gaze, his brightly polished glasses glinting as much as his eyes.

            "My colleagues believe I am wasting my time with you, Mr. Asakura, but I believe that you want to do the right thing, put your mistakes behind you, and start towards an actual future."

            "So…?" queried Yoh, not sure where this was going.

            "We are willing to wipe the slate clean if you will aid us in bringing a known terrorist to justice," put in the girl in metal, speaking for the first time.  "We are giving you a chance, Yoh."

            "It sounds good," said Yoh thoughtfully.  "Yeah, pretty good deal…" Too good, in fact.  And there was something about this all that he didn't like.  "But I've got rights," he continued, hoping for a little more time.  "I want my lawyer.  I want a phone call."

            "You disappoint us," said Jeanne quietly.  

            "All I asked for was –"

            "The irony of it all," remarked Agent Marco, "is that you have no choice, Mr. Asakura."

            "I'm not scared of you," lied Yoh, hiding his shaking hands under the table.  "I have rights."

            "Yes, well, I'm afraid a phone call is of little use to you if you can't speak."  Marco said the last four words as if they were individual sentences, letting everything press in on the young man before him.

            Yoh tried to ask what he meant, but, to his horror, found that something strange had happened.  It was as if his face was suddenly turned to rubber, stretching, but not opening where his mouth should be.  He bolted to his feet, knocking over his chair, his eyes blindly wild with fear.  He tried to cry out, tried to call for help, but only muffled, meaningless sounds came out.

            Marco smiled coldly and stood, his hand gripping Yoh's left arm like a vice.  The other man caught his other side, and they forced him backwards against the table.  Jeanne stepped forward, holding a small metal box, from which she drew what looked like a mass of thin wires around a tiny red light.  

            "You see, Mr. Asakura," she said quietly, "you will help us whether you want to or not."  She pressed the light, and the thing unfolded into a mechanical creature, its extended wires like graceful tentacles, rapidly probing the air around it.  It squirmed, worm-like in her hand as she brought it closer to Yoh's abdomen.

            He doubled his struggle against the hands holding him down, but it was to no avail.  _Oh man,_ he thought miserably, _I knew I should have buttoned up my shirt for once today._

            He tensed as the thing touched his skin, metallically cold and frighteningly alive.  It wriggled in a tight circle on his stomach, sensing its position, and then disappeared down his navel.  He would have screamed as he felt it momentarily moving deeper within him, but his vocal cords seemed to have frozen completely.  For a moment, he wondered if it was possible to vomit without a mouth, but he felt sick beyond any physical symptoms or reactions, a rushing, roaring sound filled his ears…

            Yoh sat upright in bed, covered in cold sweat.  He flopped back down again, his heart still pounding.  _It was okay.  It was just a dream, just a nightmare.  _He was fine; everything was normal.  Must have been the air from the club he had gone to, combined with the weird things that Anna girl had said.  He _knew_ someone had been smoking something illegal back there.  Stupid hallucinogens.  He made a mental note never to go out with Hao's friends again.  

            The phone rang, startling him.

            He rolled over, determined to leave it.  In his dream, he had almost fallen from his own office building because of a phone call from that Morpheus person.  He wasn't too keen for something like that to happen again and in real life.  But someone else had called too, reminded a quiet voice in his thoughts.  He had spoken to Hao for a few incredible moments.  A waking, painfully immortal hope stirred within him as the phone continued to ring.  An ache to see his brother again clutched his heart, and he rose slowly from bed.  

            Walking to the small table, he picked up the receiver and put it to his ear without saying anything.

            "This line is tapped," said a familiar voice on the other end, "so I must be brief."

            Yoh's spirits sank, punctured with disappointment.  _Morpheus._  _So it wasn't all a dream.  _"Yeah, well, the agents…"

            "They got to you first," acknowledged Morpheus calmly, "but they underestimated your importance.  If they had known what I do, you'd probably be dead."

            "Wow.  Thanks."

            "I'm no mind reader.  I don't know what you're feeling, but unless you give up on me, I will _not_ give up on you.  Do you still want to meet?"

            Yoh's mind was racing.  He still had much to lose, but if this man could help him find Hao, he had even more to gain.  "…Yes," he said quietly.

            "Good.  Go to the Adams Street Bridge."

*

            It had to be one of the gloomiest nights Yoh had ever seen with the streetlights shining a sickly yellow through the pouring rain.  He hadn't been able to find a decent coat in his disorganized room, and his sweatshirt was quickly soaked through.  He saw no one as he walked down the cracked sidewalks; they had all been wise enough to seek shelter.  There was the bridge, just ahead, its shadows dark and secretive.  

            Head down, he wiped the rain from his eyes, splashing ankle deep through filthy puddles and missing his warm bed and blankets.  He needed his sleep; not enough and he would…well, sleep at work.  But it wasn't the same; why couldn't this Morpheus choose decent times of day?

            He stepped under the bridge, thankful it was semi-dry (he was no longer in immediate danger of drowning), content to blend in with the shadows.  The road passing under the bridge was empty.  He peeled off the saturated sweatshirt and attempted to wring it out while he waited, observing dully the rat that had just scampered past him.  

            The sound of running feet drifted suddenly through the rain.  He melted back further into the shadows as they approached, quick and purposeful.  He saw the silhouette of the person coming towards him through the pools of streetlight, someone with long hair and a coat streaming out behind him.   

            The person glided past him, unaware of his presence, and the phone in the phone booth just a little down the way began to ring.  Yoh watched, intrigued, as the runner slid into the booth as if the phone had rung on cue, and, in the dim light illuminating the inside, his face became suddenly clear.

            With a cry, Yoh ran out into the rain again, moving toward the other person.  "Hao!!"

            Hao turned, picking up the receiver and putting it to his ear.  Then his eyes focused on Yoh.  There was only time to see the surprise register on his face before he melted quickly into thin air, the receiver dropping to dangle from its cord.  

            "HAO!!"  Yoh felt his hands slam into the side of the phone booth, sliding on the wet glass until they managed to open the door.  His brother had been right there, had run past close enough to touch, and now he had lost him again.  Frantically, he snatched up the receiver and put it to his own ear, hoping against hope for a miracle to let him hear Hao's voice.  

            Nothing but a dial tone greeted him.  

            He couldn't hang up.  He had been so close; he couldn't believe that he had missed his chance.  So he stood there, the rainwater running off his hair and down his face, but there were no tears from his empty eyes.  _It couldn't be…_  The dial tone continued, monotonous and merciless in the silence of the night.  

To be continued… 


	5. Morpheus

Two days to my birthday…it's on the 23rd.  Not that it matters to anyone.  Sheesh, I have to find some way to stop this aging thing or I'll end up dead eventually…  I'm getting old… 

            A sleek, black car pulled up next to the sidewalk, and a hand pushed the door open.  He turned to see Anna, still dressed in black, waiting for him.  "Get in," she said quietly.  He finally hung up the phone and turned toward her.  She tossed him the sodden sweatshirt he had left under the bridge.  "You should take care of your things.  Now come on."

            Quietly, he got in, noticing the seats were leather, and hoping they didn't mind how wet he was getting them.  It was to be expected, of course, considering how heavily the rain was coming down, but he felt awkward all the same.  

            He couldn't see the faces of the two people in the front of the car, though the driver was male and had curiously pointed black hair, and the other was female, with smooth blue hair.  The girl turned around to face him suddenly, as if she could tell he had been thinking of her.

            Yoh grinned a nonchalant greeting smile, and then discovered he was staring down the barrel of a gun.  "What…??"

            "It's for our protection…and yours," said Anna calmly.

            "From what??" asked Yoh incredulously.  

            "From you."

            "Take off your shirt…ah, never mind," said the blue-haired girl, her gun never wavering, though her eyes had suddenly noticed that Yoh's shirt was not buttoned anyway.  

            "Lovely greeting, Pilica," said the driver, his voice tinged with sarcasm.

            "Shut up, Ren," she replied.

            "What _is_ this?" demanded Yoh, quite unnerved by Pilica's command.  It really sounded very wrong.  

            "Stop the car," she said tersely to Ren.  Yoh nearly smashed his forehead on the barrel of her gun as they skidded to a halt.  "Listen, you," she snapped, "we don't have time for twenty questions.  Right now there's only one rule: our way or the highway."

            He was really getting to hate that pistol trained between his eyes.  "All right then."  Opening the door, he put one foot out.  He should have known better than to come to a rendezvous at this time of night.

            "Wait, Yoh," said Anna softly.  "Please, you have to trust me."

            "Why?" he asked.  Like he enjoyed being in a car with some maniac girl threatening him with death.  

            "Because you've been down that road," she said, gesturing behind him with her hand.  "You know where it ends."  

            _Yeah, my place.  That's where it ends.  Home.  Without anyone…_

"And that's not where you want to be."

            He sat, the rain still coming down, unbothered by petty mortal affairs.  Then he pulled his leg back in and shut the door with a sigh.  

            "Good," she said, pulling out a large mechanical contraption from the floor of the car.  "Now just lie back."

            There was a hollow, clear plastic tube about three centimeters in diameter protruding from the gadget she held in her hands, and she put its open end against his stomach, peering into a small screen attached higher up.  

            "What is that thing?" he asked tentatively, hoping Pilica would not begin ranting about twenty questions again.

            "We think you're bugged," Anna said, still absorbed with whatever was on the screen.  "Come on…"

            Pilica was now paying more attention to the screen; the gun in her hand drifted absently and was now pointed approximately at Yoh's elbow.  

            "Come on…" said Anna softly again.

            "It's on the move," said Pilica.

            Yoh winced, sure he had felt something move inside him.

            Anna swore quietly.

            "You're gonna lose it!" said Pilica frantically.

            "No I'm not," replied Anna, regaining control of herself.  "Clear!"

            Yoh bit back a cry as what looked like tiny bolts of lightning writhed in the plastic tube, concentrating around his navel.  Something was moving beneath the skin.  Then, with the awful feeling of a small hole being ripped in him, he gave a yell, but the other occupants of the car looked relieved.  

            Anna sat back, triumphantly holding a vial containing the worm-like mechanism he had seen not long ago.  

            "That thing's for real?!" spluttered Yoh, his hand on his stomach, though it was already healed as if nothing had happened.

            Pilica nodded as Anna tossed the capsule out into the street.  "And now, there's someone who wants to meet you."

*

            They drove up in front of a dilapidated building, its dark windows like brooding, half-asleep eye focused blearily on them.  Yoh, however, seemed the only one unnerved by the idea, so he followed them through the back door without protest.  

            No one spoke as they waited for the elevator and then walked in.  It had the ominous feeling of going to a funeral; no one smiled.  

            Anna pressed the button for their floor.

            Yoh cocked his head, looking at it.  "That's weird."

            "What is?" she inquired, her voice betraying little interest.

            "Just, most buildings don't have a thirteenth floor.  I mean, I'm not superstitious or anything, it's just…different."

            The other three occupants of the elevator shared a wry, knowing smile.  

            "Yoh," said Anna, "a lot of things will be different very, very soon."

            Ren and Pilica followed them down the hall and turned into room 1312.  Yoh caught site of a curious mass of wires, buttons, and screens before the door closed.  Anna took him to 1313.  "You go here," she said quietly.  "And let me tell you one thing: be honest.  He knows more than you can imagine."

            Yoh nodded nervously and stepped through the door she held open.  She shut it as soon as he was through, leaving him alone with the man called Morpheus.  

            Yoh could see nothing but a silhouette against the faintly lit window, a man standing – no, sitting – on a chair and gazing out at the rain.  He turned slowly a few drawn-out moments after Anna had left, studying his visitor carefully.  Yoh noticed with a shock that Morpheus _was _standing.  On the chair.  And he was still shorter than Yoh.

            "At last," said Morpheus softly, completely ignoring the shock on the newcomer's face if he noticed it at all.  He leaped down from the chair so that his head was no longer even level with the window and walked forward, his eyes shining with excitement.  "Welcome, Yoh-kun.  As you no doubt have guessed, I am Morpheus."

            Yoh took the hand offered to him and shook it.  "You're…ehh…"

             "There is no shame in unnaturally diminutive stature," said Morpheus with dignity, though he did not seem too offended.  His pale brown hair was smooth and unruffled, and he had the appearance of one who was fully aware of everything going on around him.  

            "Well," said Yoh warmly, taking a liking to the person before him, "it's an honor."

            Morpheus smiled back.  "Please.  Come.  Sit."

            He and Yoh walked to the two leather chairs facing each other, a small table between.  A glass of water sat on the table with no indication toward its purpose.  They sat down, watching each other in the dim light.  

            "I imagine," ventured Morpheus, "you feel like Alice right now, tumbling down the rabbit hole with no indication of relief."

            "Maybe," said Yoh, sitting back in the chair.  "I dunno.  I figure everything'll be all right, but, sure, I don't get everything that's happening."  _We just met and he's making storybook references.  His NAME is a story reference.  Is this some kind of nerd?_

            "It's in your face," said Morpheus.  "You look like you're sure you'll just wake up from this at any moment."

            "It's happened before," said Yoh.

            "Funny how close that is," said Morpheus.  "But, Yoh-kun, can you tell me why you're here?"

            _Why is he asking _me _the questions?_  "Eh…you wanted to meet me.  I mean, you're _Morpheus_.  I know people…a person who would die to meet you."  He closed his eyes momentarily, remembering.

            "We both know there's more than that," said Morpheus.  "Yoh-kun, do you believe in fate?"

            "No," said Yoh shortly, running his fingers absently through his hair.

            His answer seemed to intrigue the youth before him.  "Why not?"

            "Dunno," said Yoh, "I guess…I guess I don't like the idea that I can't control what happens in my life.  You know?  Like, maybe I'm destined to experience something awful and I can't do anything about it."  _I don't like the idea that maybe I'm not meant to ever see Hao again._

            Morpheus smiled, but said nothing.  "I'll tell you why you're here.  You have the gift."

            "What gift?"  _What is that program Hao gave me last Christmas?  I knew I shouldn't have accepted anything from him after her turned hacker!  I'm in for it now…_

            "What you do on a computer," said Morpheus.  "It's incredible, unnatural.  I've seen it.  It's magic."

            _Back to the storybooks, huh?  It he a Harry Potter fan too?_  "It's not magic."

            "But it is, Yoh-kun, it is," insisted Morpheus.  "How else do you explain what's been happening to you?"

            "What?"

            "We are trained to accept only what is rational or logical.  Ever wonder why?"

            Yoh's mouth opened noiselessly, his brow furrowed, but he said nothing.

            "As children, we do not separate as much reality from fantasy.  That is why young minds are so much easier to free.  An older one like yours is much harder."

            "Free from what?"

            "From the matrix."

            It was a moment for inexplicable thunder and lightning, had they been in a movie.  Instead, only a very pregnant silence followed.  _It's here,_ thought Yoh, _there are answers for me.  I'll find them; I'll find Hao._

            "Do you know what it is, Yoh-kun?" asked Morpheus, opening a large book on his lap.  Yoh had not noticed it before.

            He did not answer, though he felt that perhaps he did know.  He wanted to see what Morpheus would say.

            "You've felt it all your life," said Morpheus, flipping through the pages of his book.  "Like it's always there, but you don't know exactly what.  It drives you mad.  But _what _is it?"

            Yoh waited.  Funny, he had felt pretty happy most of his life listening to music.  It was Hao who was restless all the time, and only after he was gone had Yoh begun to feel that something was distinctly wrong.  But he let Morpheus talk.

            He closed the book with a snap, his eyes still on Yoh.  "The matrix is _everywhere._  It is there whatever you do, wherever you are.  It is the world that is meant to blind you from the truth."

            _The truth is out there, Yoh…  It is looking for you…_ echoed Anna's voice within his memories.  "What truth?"

            "That you are a slave, Yoh-kun," said Morpheus softly.  "Born into bondage…into an intangible, invisible prison.  A prison for your mind."

            "I…I don't really understand," said Yoh reluctantly, feeling awkward.

            "Unfortunately," sighed Morpheus, "I cannot tell you what the matrix is.  No one can.  You have to see it for yourself."

            "But you said it's invisible…"

            "Sometimes you have to see things differently to really understand them."  Morpheus reached into his jacket and pulled out a small metal box.  It reminded Yoh unpleasantly of the box Agent Jeanne had had, and he fervently hoped it carried no mechanical creature.  It contained two things, apparently; Morpheus slipped on into each hand and closed the container.

            "This is your last chance," he said, his eyes not wavering.  "After this, there is no going back."  He opened his right hand, revealing a translucent cerulean capsule.  "You take the blue pill, the story ends.  You wake up in bed and go on believing whatever you want."

            _And forget all my leads on finding Hao??  I don't think so._

            "Or…" Morpheus opened his left hand, revealing an identical capsule, but crimson instead "…you take the red pill, you stay in wonderland, and I show you just how far the rabbit hole goes."

            _Erk.  Storybooks again.  Could I possibly just take nothing and go home?_

            "I give you only the truth.  Nothing more."

            _The truth.  I'm trying to find Hao, who disappeared after living lie after lie in his illegal hacking worlds.  If only I could be sure…_

            The silence was pressing down on him.

            _If only…  If only…_

Hand shaking, he reached out and took the red pill from Morpheus' small hand.  Slipping it into his mouth, he took the glass of water from the table before him and swallowed.

            Morpheus only smiled, then slid from his seat to the floor.  "Come with me."

To be continued 

Sorry, 'twill get more interesting pretty soon.


	6. Awakening and Introductions

Yuk.  School is officially now in session, and my primary muse has ditched off for vacation in Bermuda or something, so I apologize for the wait.

            They went into the next room, where Anna and the others had been waiting.  She glanced at him with approval as he entered.  

            There was a new boy too, with pale green hair and eyes.  He looked surprisingly young, but he showed little emotion when he looked at Yoh before turning back to the huge control panel they had set up.  "Morpheus," he said quietly, "don't you think we might be rushing him?"

            "He'll be fine, Lyserg," said Morpheus.  "Don't worry.  Apoc, are we online?"

            Yoh noticed that he had addressed the boy he knew as Ren, and couldn't hide his puzzlement.  

            "Everyone has two names here," said Anna, reading his expression.  "Sometimes it's not always safe to use one's true name over networking.  You should know that, _Neo_."

            He nodded, comprehending.  "But you still use Anna…"

            "Rarely.  With complete strangers, I am almost always Trinity."

            "Almost online," said Ren, his fingers flying over the keyboards in front of him.

            Yoh looked at him, something familiar stirring in the back of his mind.  Hao had once said…  "Wait, Apoc?"

            Ren looked up.

            "You wrote the Four Horsemen Virus."

            "That's right."  The boy turned indifferently back to the screens.

            "Yoh," said Morpheus, cutting him off before he could start bombarding Ren with computer questions, "time is always against us.  Will you take a seat there?"

            Yoh turned and saw a chair hooked up to wires connected to the many screens and keyboards.  It was somewhat in the corner of the room, close to the walls and almost next to a cracked, full-length mirror.  Slowly, awkwardly, aware of all the eyes on him, he obliged, settling back and still feeling rather baffled.  

            Anna walked forward and began to press white electrode discs onto the skin of his arms and head.  Her fingers were warm, he noticed, though she didn't even glance at his face.  

            "You guys did all this?" he asked, his eyes sweeping again the extensive electronic apparatus around him.  

            She nodded.

            Morpheus stood nearby, watching.  "The pill you took is part of a trace system," he said.  "I must warn you, things may feel a bit strange in a moment."

            The tapping of the keyboard seemed suddenly louder.  Pilica reached for a phone wired to the whole system and turned the old rotary dial, putting in a number she knew by heart.  He turned and saw himself reflected in the fragments of the mirror nearby, pale and a bit scared-looking.  

            Suddenly, as if time had turned about, the cracks shortened, melted, and vanished, leaving behind a whole mirror.  

            "Wha…?"

            Lyserg and Ren were scanning the screens, typing furiously as Anna monitored another.  Yoh barely noticed them.

            He reached out to touch the mirror; his fingers sank into it as if it were liquid.  He pulled back, and it stretched as he did, clinging like silver syrup to his hand.  "What is this?" he asked, half panicking.

            "Just relax," said Anna, not looking away from the screen.  

            The silver began to spread like a hungry, sentient creature over his skin, coating his hand and creeping up his sleeve.  It stretched over his chest and seeped up his neck, even as he strained uselessly to avoid him.

            "It's going into replication," said Anna's voice in the distance.

            "Apoc?" questioned Morpheus.

            "Still nothing," replied Ren, his tone strained.

            "Well need the signal soon.  Stay calm, Yoh."

            Yoh barely heard him.  "It's cold," he moaned feverishly, shivering as the shining coating traced his cheekbones.  

            "It's all over me…"

            The others were in a flurry of activity, avidly watching the screens.

            "I got a fibrillation!" said Anna.

            "I knew it.  I knew it," came Lyserg's voice.

            "It's cold…it's cold," muttered Yoh incoherently.  It was almost at his eyes, his nose, his mouth.  It would drown him.

            "Apoc?" said Morpheus again, a hint of panic in his voice.

            "Targeting…almost there…" replied Ren.

            A monitor let off a shrill tone.

            "He's going into arrest!" exclaimed Anna.

            "Lock!  I got him!"

            "Now, Tank, now!" 

            "Of you go now, Yoh…through the looking-glass."

            Yoh heard nothing, was aware of nothing but the coldness sliding down his throat, venomous and frigid.  His mouth opened in a scream, and everything went dark.

*

            The darkness slowly gave way to a sickly red glow.  Yoh's eyes drifted open reluctantly, then widened as he tried to figure out where he was.  He was floating in a thick, gelatinous liquid, surrounded by serpentine cables that twined about his limbs.  Air…he needed air.  Pushing himself upward, he reached toward the surface, only to find that it was covered over with a cellophane-like skin.  Panicking, he shoved against it, clawing, his chest burning.  It finally gave way, tearing and receding as he gulped in the precious oxygen.  

            Breathing heavily, he looked about and noticed with a shock that the lines entangling him appeared to be sprouting from his arms at even intervals, there were more on his chest and, judging by the feel of it, on his back as well.  One large cable hung from the back of his neck.  He attempted to pull at them, but none shifted the slightest under his fingers.  

            His eyes hurt and his vision was blurred, but with an effort, he squinted, trying to see where he was.  He caught his breath.  Lining the walls of a huge complex stretching farther than he could see were millions of glowing red pods identical, in fact, to the one in which he now sat.  In each container was a human like himself, each plugged full of cords.  No one else was awake.  

            He shuddered, and then realized he was cold.  Out of the gel, there was nothing to retain the warmth from his body, for whatever or whoever had plugged him into this place had apparently thought clothes were unnecessary.  

            A monstrous, floating black machine pulled up to his level, banishing everything from his mind but shock and terror.  Legs unfolded from its underside like a huge insect, reaching toward him.  He flailed back, but the pod and the cords gave him little room to run.  He felt it grasp him, and pull the thickest cable out of the back of his neck, yanking at his wet hair as it went.  The next instant, the rest had unplugged themselves quickly, an explosive snap accompanying each one.  It left him feeling painfully free, but strangely nervous as the mechanism floating before him remained stationary for a moment, as if looking him over.  Then, in a moment, it was gone, leaving for some other business known only to its wiry substitute for a brain.  

            Before Yoh had time to breathe even a sigh of relief, a drain opened at the back of his capsule, drawing all the gelatinous liquid out and pulling him with it.  He never found out exactly where it led, because he hit his head on the way out and missed whatever followed.

*

            He awoke painfully in a dimly-lit room, covered in rough blanket.  Hushed voices conversed around him, and someone had their fingers buried in his hair.

            "Look at this," said a voice he suspected was Anna's.  "It's like a sign or something."

            "It's a fluke," said Ren.  "It's nothing."

            "I don't know."  The fingers brushed his bangs curiously.  "Everyone else has come out of the matrix all but shaved bald.  No one's hair ever grows until they've been freed.  I've never seen one like _this…_"

            "But for it to be a sign?" asked an unfamiliar voice skeptically.

            "It's not unheard of."

            "If you're referring to the Biblical character of Samson…"

            "His long hair _was_ a symbol of divinely given strength to a man meant to deliver his people from oppression," put in Morpheus.

            "This is now," said Ren, sounding slightly disgusted.  "It's not practical to bring in old stuff like that."

            "But I heard," said another voice, dropping quickly to a whisper, "that there was another freed whose hair was uncut.  Was kind of a mess trying to get the cords out."

            "When?"

            "Not long ago."

            "You don't think…"

            "Shh!  He's waking up!"

            Yoh rolled over, squinting in the darkness at the figures around him.  "Where am I?"

            "On my ship," said Morpheus, leaning on the bed, still as short as ever.  "The Nebuchadnezzer."

            "Am I dead?"

            "No," said Anna wryly.  "If you were dead, you probably wouldn't be so sore."

            It was true.  He hurt all over as if he had gone through an intense workout just hours before.  "What…?"

            "Your muscles atrophied while plugged into the matrix.  We had to rebuild them while you slept, but it'll take some getting used to."

            "Think you can stand?" asked a tall blond man, offering a hand to him.  

            "This is Faust," said Morpheus with a smile.  "He did most of the work getting you back together."

            "Thanks."  Yoh tested his feet shakily, but managed to keep his balance.  "What day is it?"

            "Better ask what year it is," said Lyserg.

            Yoh's eyes widened.  "How long was I out??"

            "It's not that," put in a tall man with flowing black hair.  "In the matrix, you were meant to think it was around the beginning of the 21st century.  In actuality, it's nearly the 23rd."

            Yoh's mouth dropped open.  "But…"

            "Hey, let's show him around!" butted in a genki-looking blue-haired boy of about Yoh's age.

            "I was going to," said Morpheus.

            "Oh.  Sorry, Manta."

            "Manta?" asked Yoh.  "Is that your real name?"

            The short boy nodded.  "That's right.  Feel free to use it if you want.  This crew isn't big on formalities."

            "Okay."

            "Introductions!" suggested the blue-haired boy with enthusiasm.  "I'm Horohoro.  Also known as Mouse from time to time.  Great to meet you!"

            "I'm Lyserg," said the boy Yoh had seen back at the rundown hotel.  "We haven't been properly introduced before.  I go by Cypher too."

            "I should hope you have enough memory to recall my name," said Anna, her arms folded over her chest.

            "Don't mind her," said Pilica with a winning smile.  "She's always like that.  We know each other already, I suppose, but since everyone is telling their alias as well, I'm Switch."

            "You already know I'm Apoc," said Ren impatiently.  "That's Silva or Tank, Chrom or Dozer, and Faust or Cable."  He listed them off as if it was all too tedious for him to stand.

            "I'm really not that great with names," said Yoh sheepishly, trying not to let on how tired his brain was feeling.  "I apologize in advance if I forget anyone."

            "No problem!" said Horohoro jovially.  "We won't mind at all!"

            Yoh glanced at Anna's icy expression and decided Horohoro was mostly speaking for himself.

To be continued… 

Well, now, for those who have watched the movie, you pretty much know who's gonna die.  Yeah.  Unless I feel gracious and decide to change the storyline.  


	7. Enter the Matrix

Yes, it is taking longer to update.  Blame work overload and short-circuiting brain cells.  But I honestly do apologize.

According to my irascible muse, I will, for tension's sake, be making two people related in this that aren't in the canon SK.  Will that profoundly irritate anyone?  

            The crew escorted Yoh to a large but cluttered room full of wires and screens.  It looked like room 1312 multiplied by fifty and just as organized.  "This is the main deck," said Manta with obvious pride, noting the look of awe on Yoh's face.  "And this is the core."  He gestured with his arm, taking in the most concentrated area of electronic equipment and a circle of chairs like the one Yoh had sat in by the mirror.  

            "From here," said Lyserg, running his hand over the top of a screen, "we broadcast our signals and hack into the matrix."

            "Have a seat, Yoh," said Horohoro, pointing to the chairs.  

            Yoh obeyed, wondering what would happen this time.  

            "This is basically turning virtual reality into reality," said Silva, as if that answered everything.  Yoh watched him walk to the chair in front of the screens as if it was all routine for him.

            "And," put in Ren, "it's all accessed right here."  He tapped the plug opening left in the back of Yoh's head.  

            Anna pulled out a large cord with a single, thick, ten-centimeter long needle protruding from the end.  "This'll feel a little weird."  So saying, she pushed the spike into the opening in the back of Yoh's head.  He tensed from surprise and momentary pain, his eyes squeezing shut.

            He opened them to find himself in the middle of nowhere, literally.  Everything was an expanse of blank whiteness with no sky or horizon.  

            "We call this the Construct," said Manta from behind him.

            Yoh whirled around to find himself eye to eye with the boy.  He jumped back in surprise.  "You…grew!"

            "And you changed clothes," shot back Manta without blinking an eye.

            Yoh looked down.  Indeed, he was no longer wearing the rough, simple gray clothes he had woken up in, but his usual jeans and open pale blue shirt.  

            "It's RSI…residual self image.  It reflects how you picture yourself because we are, in fact, in a mere computer program."

            "So you picture yourself as being taller than actual?"

            "Not actually.  I've learned to manipulate the imaging, and can appear at any size I want.  Not many people bother to learn, but I found it useful.  For the purpose of blending in, I take on an average size when in the matrix…what you used to know as the real world."

            "But…when we met…"

            "I wanted to be completely honest with you and thus appeared in my normal size."

            "Oh.  So I could make myself blond?" he asked, running his fingers absently through his hair.

            "It's not easy.  You might not be able to if the image of one's self is too strong.  Anyway, this is our loading program.  We can load anything you can imagine: clothes, weapons, simulations…" He walked over to a pair of chairs that seemed to have materialized while Yoh wasn't looking and sat down.  Yoh instinctively took the place beside him.

            "So this isn't real?"

            Manta seemed perfectly at home.  "But what _is_ real?" he asked with a complacent smile.  "What your senses tell you is real?"

            "Can you ask some easy questions for a change?" sighed Yoh, half sulking and slouching down in his chair.

            Manta laughed and pulled out his enormous book again, this time quickly finding his page.  "I'll give you a little history lesson, all right?"

            "'bout what?"  A lesson did not sound highly appealing to Yoh at the moment.

            "Just pay attention."

            He opened the book and put in on a table before them.  "This," he said, pointing to a picture of a teeming metropolis, "is the Chicago you know, the one from the beginning of the 21st century.  It currently exists only in the neural-interactive simulation known as the matrix."

            "Wha…?"

            "What is fed to your senses in the matrix by the machines."

            "Oh."

            "And this…" he turned the page "…is Chicago today."

            Yoh recoiled from the picture.  It was clearer than any photo he had ever seen, and seemed to be moving as if he were there.  The image was a false mockery of a city, a mere corpse of what it once was.  Now the skeletons of buildings stretched above filth-ridden streets toward a turbulent and darkened sky.

            Then, it was all around him, as if he and Morpheus were standing on a barren, charred plane gazing at the city.

            "The desert of the real," said Manta quietly.  "We are, with the Nebuchadnezzer and all its crew, miles below the earth's crust.  It is the only place humans can survive outside the matrix."

            "But…why…?"

            Manta sighed, and turned the page, returning them to the blank whiteness of the Construct.  "Early in the 21st century, mankind celebrated the birth of new technology, of AI."

            "Artificial intelligence," said Yoh, returning to his customary slouching position.

            "Right.  But it was not exactly as we had hoped.  We don't know who struck first – us or them – but soon mankind was engaged in an epic war with its own creation.  We do know, however, that it was us who darkened the sky.  We thought that without an energy source as vast as the sun, the machines would have nothing to run off of and would eventually stop."

            Yoh stifled a yawn. 

            "So the machines sought out a new energy source – are you listening?!"

            Yoh jumped and looked about guiltily.  "You were saying?"

            Manta seemed affronted.  "This is important!  Highly, highly relevant to what is happening in the world today!"

            "Sorry.  I'm not good with lectures."

            "Just listen!  It won't take to long.  I'll keep it short, okay?"

            Yoh grinned.  "Okay."

            With a sigh, Manta returned to his lesson.  "As I was saying, the machines needed a new energy source.  And they had one."  He turned the page again.  "The human body generates more electricity than a 120 volt battery and over 25 000 BTU's of heat."  The image on the page came alive again, and Yoh could see rows and rows of humans in red capsules like his had been, tended and harvested by the machines.  

            "That's…"

            Manta did not let him finish, but continued relentlessly on.    "We're recyclable: the dead can be liquefied and fed to the living.  The only problem was the matter of how to occupy the mind of their crops."

            _Feed on the dead?  The fairy tale just turned into a horror story._  Yoh could say nothing.

            "And so, they built us a prison from our pasts, wired it into our brains and turned us into slaves."

            Yoh stood abruptly.  "You're joking."

            "I'm not," said Manta sadly.  "It's all true."

            Yoh covered his mouth as if he were ready to be sick.  "It's not," he whimpered, backing away.  "It's not…it's not…how can it…?"

            Manta stood too.  "I know it's hard, but you have to take it –"

            "Let me out!" Yoh gasped, as if he couldn't breathe.  "Let me out of this place!  Let me go!"

            The white nothingness vanished in an instant, and he was back in the Core of the Nebuchadnezzer.  Anna and Horohoro were nearby, one removing the plug from his head as soon as he opened his eyes.  He bolted up from the chair and backed against the walls, feeling cornered.  

            "Look, Yoh…"

            He heard little.  Bright lights were bursting in his vision, filling his eyes and obscuring his sight.  

            "It was too much for him, too soon!" said Ren tersely.  "The stress—"

            "Yoh-kun!  Just breathe!"

            "Hold on!"

            But everything went black.

*

            Yoh came to in the same dim room that had greeted him after he had been freed from the matrix.  All was quiet in the hall outside, and a thin blanket covered him.  Still, he sensed someone else nearby.  "I can't go back, can I?" he asked.  It was more of a hopeless statement than a question.  

            "No," said Anna.  "But would you really want to, even if you could?"

            Silence.

            "Morpheus wanted me to explain to you.  He really felt awful about today."

            "Then why didn't he come himself?" asked Yoh softly.  

            "He's not sure how you took all he shared with you.  He thought another voice might be better for you at this time.  You see, we almost never free a mind when it's reached a certain age.  It has trouble letting go; it turns against itself.  We've seen it happen."

            An involuntary shudder seized Yoh momentarily.

            "Morpheus broke the rules because he had to."

            Quiet, as everything sank in.

            "When the matrix was first built, there was a man who could change what he wanted, remake what he perceived at his will.  He freed the first of us and taught us the secret of the war: control the matrix, and you control the future.  When he died, the Oracle predicted his return and said that it would herald the end of the war.  _Freedom_, Yoh.  So we have spent our lives searching for him.  Morpheus believes you have a special purpose to serve."

            _But you?  Do you believe in me at all?_  "I told him I don't believe in fate," blurted Yoh.  

            "Morpheus does, and right now, that's what counts."

            She stood.  

            "Well, get some rest.  You'll need it."

            Yoh sat up.  "For what?"

            "Why," she turned to him with a slightly sadistic glint in her eyes, "for your training."

*

            Morning was when the lights came on.  Yoh was lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling when the knock on his door came.  "Come in," he called.

            The man called Silva entered.  "Morning, Yoh.  Did you sleep well?"

            "No," said Yoh.  Too much had happened the day before to allow decent rest.

            "You'll sleep tonight," said Silva with a grin.  "Anna guarantees it."

            "She said so?" groaned Yoh.

            "Oh, no.  But she'll be overseeing this all; I just run the programs.  My sympathies.  Good luck, kid."  He held out his hand.

            Yoh shook it half-heartedly, his heart sinking.  Then he noticed something unusual.  "You don't have…" he gestured at Silva's arm.

            "Nope," said Silva cheerfully, "no holes.  Me 'n' Chrom, the other tall, black-haired guy here, we're pure.  Born free.  Genuine children of Zion."

            "Zion?"

            "_The_ place.  It's the last human civilization.  You'll see it someday, all we have left.  To be honest, _I_'m excited to see what you're capable of.  I mean, if Manta is right and all.  We're not supposed to discuss it, but…" He trailed off, looking at the youth before him with a half smile.  "Well, we've got lots to do.  Let's go."

To be continued… 

To answer various questions:

-Apple-chan, excellent guesswork, but I'm not at liberty to tell you that yet.  (Horohoro: It means you're right, you know.  ^_~)

-da*mouse, well, I'll have to kill _some_ of them off, but maybe not all of them.  If worse comes to worse, maybe I'll pull names out of a hat.  If there's someone you really DON'T want to die, let me know and I'll try to make it fit.

-elisabeth the ultimate harry/u, slight YoNa, but not extreme.  I have to keep Anna in character, after all.  As for a "nice" YoNa moment, I guess that'll depend on your point of view.  ^_^


	8. Training, Reuniting, Breaking

Eheh…sorry.  I've been writing later scenes and putting these off.  Bad me.  Bad, bad, bad.  Shame.  

            Anna was waiting for them at the Core, looking impatient as usual.  She plugged Yoh into the chair as had been done the day before, and then went over to Silva to look over the programming.  "He's supposed to start with the basics, but I think that his hacker background has prepared him well enough.  We should go with something…interesting."  She plucked a disk from a rotating storage rack.

            "What is it?" asked Yoh curiously.

            "Jujitsu," replied Silva with a grin.  

            "Jujitsu?  I'm going to learn _jujitsu?"_

            "That's right."  Silva pushed the disk into one of the Core's many drives.  

            Anna watched apathetically as Yoh tensed in reaction to an involuntary adrenaline rush.  He relaxed a moment later, breathing heavily.  

            "I think he likes it," joked Silva, stealing a glance at Yoh, who already looked drained.  The boy had not prepared himself for anything like this; his mind had just undergone the training of an entire martial art in five seconds.  

            "Next," said Anna, plucking another disk from the rack.  Her fingers already hovering mercilessly over the next one as Yoh became suddenly enlightened in the art of drunken boxing.  

            "Okay…judo…"

            "Wait," gasped Yoh.  "Hold on a sec, I need to catch my breath."

            "One second…is up now.  Judo."

            "But…" He broke off, his ability to do anything taken as new synapses formed and honed themselves in his brain.  Then it was gone once again.  "Five minutes this time!" begged Yoh.  "I'm tired!"

            "We just started.  You have thirty seconds."

            "One minute?"

            "Twenty seconds."

            "But I..." He tried to sit up, reaching for the plug in the back of his head when a firm hand latched onto his shoulder and shoved him back down again.

            "We're not finished."

            Behind her, Silva was mutely trying to signal Yoh that it would be a lot less painful if he just obeyed.  "Just hold up!" protested the boy, ignoring the warning.  "What's the big deal??  I just want a break!"

            "You _have_ to learn this.  There _will_ be a test."

            He paused; it was not the answer he had expected.  "Test?"

            "You will have to demonstrate what you know.  Against me."

            "Wha--?!"

            "And then come the Agents.  They don't play games.  They kill you."

            Yoh gulped.

            "Let's continue."

            "Yes, Anna."

*

            They had gone completely through the martial arts files by the time Morpheus came to check on them.

            "How's he doing?" he asked.

            "He's like a machine," said Silva.  "Ten hours straight!"

            They looked at Yoh, who was soaked in sweat and gasping for breath.  "Can…we…stop…_please?_" he groaned.

            "One more hour," said Anna.  "We'll start on some complex machinery handling next."

            A moan of despair was all that issued from Yoh.  

            "Are you sure _he's_ the machine?" asked Manta wryly, a look of pity on his face.

            At that moment, however, they were interrupted by Pilica coming sliding down a ladder to land a little ways from Manta.  "Morpheus, there's another Zion ship nearby.  They want to talk to you.  Is it all right if they send a few people over to visit?"

            "What's the matter with radio transmitters?" he asked impatiently.

            "Dunno," she said with a shrug.  "Sounded like there's someone they want you to meet face to face.  All friendly, of course."

            "I suppose," he said thoughtfully.  "How many?"

            "Two to three people, I think."

            "All right then."  He turned to Yoh as she disappeared into the maze of the Nebuchadnezzer once again.  "And you," he said, "can go get cleaned up."

*

            Yoh washed up and put on a clean set of clothes, then decided to wander the ship to try to see the visitors.  He hadn't been invited, but curiosity won hands down.  He then proceeded to get thoroughly lost, and was just about to attempt backtracking when he heard voices.  Putting his ear near the door, he tried to catch what they were saying.  

            "So you've freed another one?" questioned a strange woman's voice.

            "Just one," said Manta.

            "The One?"

            "Well, I can't say just yet, but I wouldn't rule him out of the running."

            "Nice, but I think _I_ may have the candidate right here."

            "It's a pleasure to meet you," said a new male voice with surprising sincerity.

            Yoh stiffened.  Could it be?

            "The same," said Manta.  "Actually, I believe that you will want to be meeting our newest crewmember much more than you want to be making polite small talk with me.  He is, I believe, just outside the door.  Yoh, would you come in, please?"

            Feeling rather abashed at being caught eavesdropping, Yoh obeyed.  "Sorry," he muttered, entering.  Then he stopped, his eyes fixed on the newcomers.

            One was a tall girl with long blue hair and a cigarette held loosely between her lips, one was a tall, silent man with the tattoo of a cross on his chin, and the other…

            "Hao!!"

            "Long time, no see, eh?" grinned the elder Asakura, giving his brother a hug, which Yoh returned with feeling.  Both managed to convince themselves that the moisture in their eyes was purely coincidental.  "How do you like the real world?"

            "Can't say yet," said Yoh wryly, "but I figure everything'll be all right."

            Hao laughed, his hand still not leaving Yoh's shoulder.  "You're still the same, for sure."

            "Guess so.  But I want some explanations too.  You got freed?  That's why you disappeared?"

            "Oh.  Yeah.  Miss me?"

            "Did I ever!  I was so worried!  You didn't tell me anything that might have let me know you were okay!"

            "I called you, didn't I?  It's not my fault you dropped the phone down thirty stories."

            "It _is_ your fault, though, that you had to choose such _awful_ timing!  Why then?!"

            "Well, I found out the Agents were after you, and that Morpheus was trying to contact you.  I had rather hoped to free you first, you see."

            "But we beat you!" chimed in Horohoro from the doorway, where most of the crew was crowded to see the visitors.

            "I suppose," said one of the visitors – the one with the cigarette – coolly, obviously not caring at all.  She took a step toward Yoh and looked him up and down.  "I had to see for myself.  So they think you might be the One?"

            "Eh?"  A blank look was her only reply.

            "They haven't told you.  All right then."  Her fingers reached out intrusively to grasp a lock of his hair.  "But still, very curious."

            "Beg pardon?" asked Yoh.

            "Your _hair_," said Hao impatiently.  "You're only a few days free, and you've got hair down to your shoulders!"

            The conversation Yoh had heard upon first waking came back.  "Oh…"

            "Don't worry, though," said Hao dismissively.  "Everyone'll ooh and ahh over it for a while, yank on it a couple of times, and then leave you alone.  They get over it.  I had to suffer the whole thing for a while too."

            "That's right," said Yoh vaguely, the light dawning on him, "your hair's long too."

            "Yeah," said Hao with a shrug.  "Down to my waist when I was freed.  After a week, I was almost ready to cut it so everyone I saw would leave me alone."

            "Some people see it as something of a sign," said Anna quietly, eyeing the new girl with dislike.  "A sign of great potential power."

            _They're ALL stuck in fairy tales!  _"My _hair??_" asked Yoh incredulously.  "A sign?"

            "Such is the insanity of the world we live in," said Hao with a dramatic sigh, draping an arm across his brother's shoulders.  "We get used to it, eventually, and even learn to take part in it!"  He grinned.  "But I don't believe you've met the ones who freed _me._  These two are Kanna and Luchist."

            Both inclined their heads in acknowledgement but said nothing.  Something about the duo made Yoh uneasy, but since Hao seemed perfectly at ease, he decided to keep the matter to himself.    Besides, Luchist was now engaged in conversation with Manta, obviously bringing much-desired news from Zion.  The rest of the crew too had wandered into the room and were listening to ongoing discussions or adding in a word here or there.  

            Yoh and Hao sat on the side, catching up on the events that had taken place since they had been separated.  Talk drifted to the people they had met on their own ships, and Yoh couldn't help but notice how often his brother's eyes rested on Anna, currently standing alone at the other side of the room, a little ways off from Manta.  "Who's she?" he finally ventured to ask, not bothering to hide his interest much.

            "That's Anna.  She's an officer on this ship, I think."

            "She's cute."

            Yoh laughed mirthlessly.  "You obviously haven't undergone her training."

            "Sadist, huh?"

            "Well, don't let her hear you saying that.  Look, from a brother to a brother, don't…" He stopped, realizing that Hao was no longer sitting next to him, but was quietly wending his way across the room toward Anna.

            "…don't try anything on her," finished Yoh helplessly.

            "Hi," said the older brother upon reaching his target.  Her eyes flickered in some unknown emotion, then dimmed in an expression that clearly said, _Oh, it's you._  The Asakura took no notice.  "I'm Hao.  You're Anna, right?"

            "Yes."

            "So, you're in command here?"

            "This is Morpheus' ship, but I do have some sway in what happens.  Look, if there is something I can help you with, stop stalling and spit it out."

            Hao put up his hands in a gesture of defeat.  "All right, all right.  I just thought I'd make conversation, that's all."

            "Really…" She wasn't buying it.

            "Yeah, yeah.  But hey, if you don't want to talk here, I understand.  It's not like I want to push you into anything prematurely.  But I'd be happy to meet up in the matrix with you for dinner or something later on if you don't mind.  Even if eating there is pointless, you have to admit that the food still tastes good."

            "No, thank you," she said icily.  "We have a lot on our hands at the moment.  I don't have time to waste."

            "I can assure you," he said smoothly, lowering his voice ever so slightly, "that time spent with me will _not_ be considered wasted later on."  She couldn't miss the way his hair fell like fine silk to drape over his shoulders and flow down his back.  She couldn't help but see the innocent yet roguish expression on his face, the one that had almost single-handedly been the cause of the creation of the word "fangirl."

            Anna turned away.  "Again, thank you, but _no_."

            "Just like that?  Harsh, darling, real harsh."  He slipped his hand into hers as she moved to leave.  If she was playing hard-to-get, he'd match her move for move.  No one just said no to Asakura Hao.

            At his touch, Anna faced him once again.  He was about to say something in hopes of securing her attention further when she backhanded him neatly and effortlessly across the face.  "I said NO."

            He let her walk off that time, silently thankful that there had not been anyone to witness the exchange.  Well, Yoh had, but no one else.  That is, if the others had, they were polite enough to pretend to be fully absorbed in their conversations.

            "I tried to warn you," sighed Yoh as Hao came back, sulking slightly and rubbing his cheek.  

            "Whoever thought of calling women the 'gentle sex,'" he griped, "was obviously insane."

            Yoh offered him a sympathetic smile.  "Or at least, they had never met Anna.  I had to endure her training too."

            "Really?"  Hao seemed interested.  "How was it?"

            "Awful.  Ten hours straight with no rest.  I thought I was going to melt away and die."

            Hao threw back his head and laughed.  "Sounds like you got it worse than me.  But, say, would she mind so incredibly if I stuck around here for a few days?  I'd like to see her training methods, get a glimpse of what you've learned and all.  You know?"

            "Well," said Yoh.  "I haven't learned too much yet.  You're probably way better than me."

            Hao shrugged.  "Only one way to find out.  Hey, did you try the jump program yet?"

            "The jump program?"

            "Yeah, did you make it?"

            "Uh…I'm not sure I've tried it yet.  Maybe, though."

            Hao shook his head.  "Nah.  If you've tried it, you'll know.  I was kinda curious to see if you made it, that's all."

            "Guess I'll have to see.  Did you?"

            "Yep.  First try.  You'll probably do the same."

            Yoh smiled.  "Hope so."  It was finally coming together.  He was reunited with Hao, and they were simply talking lazily like old times…like brothers. 

            Busy discussing and analyzing news from Zion, none of the crew noticed that one member was missing from the room.

*

            In a dingy, God-forsaken corner of the matrix, Lyserg Diethyl reeled back against the wall behind him, his hand covering an angry purple and red mark on his cheek, tears of pain starting in his eyes.  "I-I'm sorry, Marco," he said softly.

            The Agent looked tall and imposing out of the shadows, his eyes ablaze with a silent fire.  "Unholy child, you defied my orders and did not tell me that they had freed yet another.  Did you think I would not find out?"

            "I'm sorry, Marco."

            Another blow slammed Lyserg against the wall.  He let out a small cry and slid helplessly to the floor, unable to meet the older man's eyes.  

            "He may be a threat," said Marco quietly.  "And that you had joined _Morpheus_!!  You had not told me of that, either."  He gave a half smile.  "I admit, you did an exceptionally good job covering for him, but there is nothing you can hide from the Agents forever."

            Lyserg was silent, trembling in the half-light of the enclosed room.

            "You will give them all to me."

            He looked up, the tears sliding from his horrified eyes.

            "I tire of this game, the chasing and lying.  You will tell me when and where they next enter the matrix."

            The boy pushed himself into a proper sitting position and stared into Marco's cold, hard eyes.  He spoke in barely a whisper, but the word was clear and resolute.  "No."

            He didn't see Marco's hand lash out like a striking serpent.  He only felt the crimson pain as his vision splintered into flashing stars.  Blood trickled from his mouth and down his chin.

            "Don't play the little hero," snapped Marco.  "We can trace them ourselves if we have to, but if you force us to that, I promise you that each one will take at least an hour of agony to die.  You have two other options: you can give them to us and they'll all die quickly, or you can kill them yourself.  Unplug them while they're in the matrix, and it'll be over in an instant."

            "But…"

            "If you don't, I will hunt you down too.  Don't think that our connection will shield you, or that you can just stay out of the matrix forever.  You'd have to go back in sometime.  If you didn't, what would your 'friends' say?  You'll have to explain your connection to us Agents.  How long do you think you'll have friends after that?"

            Lyserg remained silent, the blood bitter on his tongue.

            "If you're worried about afterwards," said Marco more calmly now, "we can fix that too.  We'll reinsert you into the matrix; you won't remember a thing."  He paused, studying the huddled form on the ground before him.  "Do you understand?"

            Lyserg covered his face with a shudder.  "Yes, sir."

            "Good."  Without a second glance, Marco turned and left.

            For a long time, Lyserg did not move, but sat staring blankly at the door through which the Agent had disappeared.  One last tear escaped his eyes, and he wiped it away, standing up to face the real world once again.  

To be continued… 

Oh, and sorry, mouse-chan, I don't have Amidamaru cast anywhere yet.  If I can fit him in later, though, I will.  ^_~


	9. A Close Call and Two Fights

I've been having issues with my internet service, so I may have a week or two where I don't update if I can't get to another computer. Sorry. 

Before we continue, I'd like to ask for a moment of silence and remembrance for all the poor Mankin characters now so brutally butchered by the American dub. 

"So how long are you staying around?" asked Yoh.

"Oh, I dunno," said Hao, musing thoughtfully. "A while, I hope. I've missed having a little brother to bother." He grinned and put his arm around Yoh in a mock headlock. "Been rather dull, really."

"Really? Have you gotten in touch with any of your hacker friends? I bet they'd be jealous to know that you've found the matrix," suggested Yoh.

Hao gave a snort of derision and leaned back in his seat. "Tried once. I was watchin' 'em talk in a chat room when they were discussing the very subject. Embarrassing, really. They got close enough to guess that the matrix controlled their lives."

Yoh nodded, wondering if any might become the newest addition to Morpheus' or Luchist's crew. 

"Then someone guessed it was MTV. Got shot down pretty quick. They've concluded its another name for Sega." Hao sighed. "And to think that I was once one of their number."

"Now you're a hacker _extraordinaire_," teased Yoh. "You can't just be good anymore, you have to be _incredible._"

"Sure do," replied Hao with mock arrogance, a grin lighting up his eyes. 

"You had a reputation, you know," said Yoh. "I heard an authority refer to you as the 'notorious hacker SoF' once."

"Notorious, eh?" said Hao, gazing at the ceiling with a dreamy look in his eyes, "I like the sound of that…"

Yoh snorted. "You wouldn't if you heard the way Agent Marco said it. He's _scary._"

"Agents in general have issues," agreed Hao. "They all need psychiatrists."

"You're one to talk," mutter Yoh.

Hao was about to come up with a witty retort when they were rudely interrupted by a shrieking alarm that began wailing through the Nebuchadnezzer. The atmosphere changed abruptly from calm to a charged, slightly frightened feeling. The chatting groups from either ship broke up abruptly, scattering people to their own stations. 

"Squiddies!" called out Chrom, the warning quickly being picked up by the rest. 

"Back to our ship," ordered Luchist. 

Kanna nodded and started over toward Hao. "Let's go."

"Can't we wait it out here? Does it really matter?"

"We don't joke about Sentinels. Let's go."

"Don't worry," put in Yoh quickly, alarmed by the sudden change in ambiance. "Look, I'll see you off. It should be no problem meeting up again, right?"

Reluctantly, Hao agreed. Kanna and Luchist hurried him off the ship with little chance for goodbyes. The elder Asakura, however, did his best. "I'll talk to you soon, Otouto-chan!" he called over his shoulder. "And say goodbye for me to that cute blonde…er…Anna! Okay?"

Yoh couldn't help but grin. "Okay."

*

Yoh ran into Lyserg as he hurried to the cockpit. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Not sure," said the green-haired boy, looking a little dazed. In the dim light of the hallway, Yoh thought he saw a bruise on the crewmember's face, but he wasn't certain.

"What are sentinels?"

Lyserg's eyes snapped to life. "Oh no!" He darted off down the hall, Yoh close behind. They arrived at a room with windows looking outward. The entire ship had been shut down, and everyone was gathered, waiting, tense. 

"What's going on?" asked Yoh, whispering out of instinct.  
"Those are sentinels," said Anna quietly, pointing to two things that looked much like giant mechanical jellyfish. They moved with a surprising speed and grace, however, and their glowing red lights held a deadly appearance. "Killing machines. Designed for one thing."

"Search and destroy," said Horohoro.

"Power offline," said Silva, his hands hovering over the nearest keyboard. "EMP armed and ready."

"EMP?" asked Yoh.

"Electromagnetic pulse," said Anna, an edge of impatience in her voice. "It disables any electronic system in the blast radius. It's the only weapon we have against the machines."

"Where are we anyway?" asked Yoh, studying the scene outside with a mix of interest and disgust.

"Old sewer systems. They stretch for hundreds of miles; all we have left of the old cities."

"And what--?"

"Shush," hissed Anna.

Yoh was quiet.

The silence seemed to weigh down on them as the sentinels drifted closer, searching. Horohoro fidgeted, earning a ferocious glare from Anna. The light of a sentinel gleamed through the window, and everyone froze, but it moved on without incident. 

The crew continued to wait for a few minutes, even after all signs of hostile machines were gone. Then, slowly, Silva activated the ship portion by portion until everything was running normally. Manta disarmed the EMP, and the rest went off to their various duties. 

Yoh was about to sneak off and catch a nap when Anna grabbed his wrist. "You still have a test to take."

"Eh?" He looked at her with pleading bewilderment.

"To the Core," she said tersely, gesturing Silva to come too.

*

"So what kind of test is this?" asked Yoh, sitting down on one of the familiar chairs in the Core. 

Anna took the one next to him. "You forget so quickly."

He winced as Silva plugged them in, still not quite used to the accompanying sensation, and then opened his eyes in a completely new surrounding.

He and Anna were standing across from each other in a dojo-style room, sunlight filtering in through rice-paper windows and onto the tatami floor. They were both dressed in simple white _gi_, traditional martial-arts uniforms. The clothes seemed a mix of styles, not judo, not karate, not tae kwon do. 

"You must demonstrate what you have learned. Against me," said Anna. She fell into a karate basic stance, her right foot slightly farther back from the left, her fists loosely clenched and raised to about chest level.

Yoh's arms merely fell slack at his side. "But…"

She gave him no time. In an instant, she had crossed the room, her fist barely missing his head. She glared at him for not being ready. "Show me what you can do!"

He ducked as she aimed a high kick at his head, executing a judo-style tumble to get clear. He had barely stood when her fist struck his chest, pushing him back. He jumped, flipping in the air as she executed a low sweep that would have knocked his feet from under him. 

"Coward," she said, contempt obvious in her voice.

He attempted a half-hearted blow as he landed behind her, but she caught his arm and flipped him over her shoulder and onto his back. He had to slide in a most ungainly manner on the tatami to avoid her foot connecting with the side of his head. He gulped, looking at the dent she had left. 

The flat of her hand caught his cheek. "Focus!" she snapped.

He nodded, scrambling to his feet and taking a defensive stance as she moved forward again. She lashed out again, but he executed a backwards handspring, avoiding what could have been a very painful bruise to the shoulder. Blending her landing and the beginning of her next attack in one smooth motion, she took two steps up the wooden pillar at the edge of the mats and pushed off into the air. Time seemed to slow and she appeared to float as she drew her legs up beneath her, a meter and a half off the ground. Then everything seemed to snap to faster than normal as her foot shot out in a fierce kick, catching him in the chest and knocking the wind out of him as he fell backward. 

Even through the initial pain, he couldn't help feeling that this was not even close to the best she could do. He was almost glad she was holding back; he didn't want to know how she could fight when provoked. Then she was standing over him, feet apart for optimum balance and mobility, breathing heavily, but still tireless. "On your feet."

He rolled slightly and stood, moving to her right to avoid a straight-on attack. She seemed not to have been expecting this, but recovered quickly, spinning as she jumped impossibly high, landing just in front of him. 

He managed to block most of the rain of blows she sent at him, but his chest, arms, and shoulders were soon aching with the repeated impacts. He was thankful when she stopped, even if she looked thoroughly disgusted with him. 

"You're not doing anything!" she berated him. "You're just trying to block! For heaven's sake, this is close range and I left some opportunities wide open! The least you could do was attempt a judo throw!"

"I'm not sure about that…"

"Look, it's incredibly simple. You grab the inside of the collar with your right hand, my sleeve with your left, pivot quickly and throw!" She irritably yanked his hands into the position she described.

"Hand inside the collar?" he asked, wondering why it felt so awkwardly difficult. 

"Yes," she said, curling his thumb around the edge of the cloth in an attempt to make him grasp it properly. "Is your brain short-circuiting or something?"

_Something like that._ He felt his face grow hot as his fingers brushed the skin of her neck and his wrist rested slightly on her collarbone through the _gi_. She was so soft, and the stray strands of golden hair teased his fingers to venture the smallest caress. Despite her intimidating personality, she was still as fragile as any other human. 

She looked up to see why he was not concentrating, and caught the blush spreading across his face. Throwing his hands off, she glared, trying to hide the similar shade of red on her own face. "Fine! Forget about the judo throw, but at least do something!! Stop running away and try to hit me!"

"I can't…" said Yoh uncomfortably, scuffing the mats with his left foot.

"See? That's why! It's all your mentality! Haven't you realized that that's what's limiting you?"

"No, that's not it," he said, still studying the floor. "I…I can't hit a girl… It's not…proper…"

She stared. 

"And I feel bad grabbing your _gi_." _Not to mention that the only thing keeping it secured and closed is that belt around your waist._

"I have a shirt underneath!" she protested, pulling the collar wide open so he could see the white tank top she was wearing. Both were quite definitely blushing by now.

"You don't mind my touch?" asked Yoh timorously.

"Of course not!" exclaimed Anna. 

Yoh scratched the back of his head, still a proper shade of crimson.

"It's all about the fight, nothing more," she added quickly, realizing how easily misinterpreted their conversation could be. "And chivalry died centuries ago."

He didn't move. "I'm sorry, Anna."

She sighed, putting a hand to her forehead. "If only your brother had qualms of honor like that in the presence of a lady…" Her hand burned as she remembered how Hao had clasped it, though momentarily.

"Yeah. Sorry," he said. 

"You don't have to apologize for him. It's not your fault." 

"Okay."

She raised her head, balancing lightly where she stood, ready to move again. "But we're here to fight, remember? Not discuss relationships."

"But…" started Yoh.

"I'll fight him," volunteered a voice.

Both turned to see Manta, as tall as he had been at Yoh's history lesson, walking toward them, dressed in a similar _gi. _Yoh breathed a sigh of relief. This he could handle.

"You think he's ready?" asked Anna, eyeing Yoh with doubt. 

"Only one way to find out," said Manta with a shrug.

"Okay then." She turned to Yoh. "But I'll warn you, he's even stronger than I am." They watched her walk off the mats and into the shadows, where she vanished, leaving them and returning to the real world. 

Yoh turned to Manta, his heart pounding in slight anticipation, observing the unshaken calm in his temporary opponent.

"Let's go."

Yoh moved first, executing a flying kick like the ones he had admired in the Lee Pyron movies he had watched a couple times as a kid. 

But to his shock, Manta wasn't where he was supposed to be when Yoh reached him, but a little to the side. Yoh had only time to see the hand reach out and grab his ankle before he found himself suddenly on the floor. 

Shocked, he jumped to his feet, and let fly a barrage of kicks and punches, each of which Manta calmly and flawlessly blocked or dodged. Even with his extensive knowledge of almost every martial art known to man, Yoh could not even shake his opponent's calm attitude. 

*

Horohoro wandered into the Core to find Anna and Silva focused completely on the screens before him. "What's going on?"

"Yoh's fighting Manta!" exclaimed Silva, watching the action in awe.

"Yow! Really?"

Anna nodded, her eyes not leaving the battle. 

Horohoro ducked into the hall for a moment. "Heey!!! Yoh's fightin' Manta!!!!" he bellowed, knowing Pilica or someone else would hear and spread the news. He then rushed over to get a good spot before everyone else arrived. Indeed, a matter of seconds later, they could hear the pounding of feet in the halls as the rest of the crew hurried to see the spectacle.

*

Yoh stopped, panting from exertion, Morpheus' hand holding his fist in a perfect block. "Good," said Manta. "Adaptation. Improvisation. The technique is _not_ your weakness."

This time the master took the offensive, his fists a blinding blur as Yoh scrambled to protect himself. Every time he jumped, flipped, tumbled, or nearly flew off the walls, Manta was waiting where he landed, giving him no escape and no rest. 

In no time at all, Yoh was on his hands and knees, frustrated but fully defeated.

"How did I beat you?" asked Manta as if he were inquiring about the weather.

"You…you're too fast," gasped out Yoh, brushing his sweaty bangs from his face.

"Do you think," said Manta, musing, "that my strength and speed have anything to do with muscles in this place?" For a moment, he seemed to be his small, weak self before returning to his average height.

Yoh bit his lip, trying to come up with a proper answer.

"Do you think that's air you're breathing right now?" offered Manta.

Yoh blinked.

"If you can free your mind, your body will follow."

_See? …It's all your mentality! That's what's limiting you!_ said Anna's voice in his head.

"Again," said Manta, beckoning. 

Lips pursed in concentration, Yoh answered the challenge by leaping to his feet and flying at Manta with doubled vigor.

*

"That boy is _fast,_" said Faust with awe.

"You ever see anyone that fast that soon?" asked Horohoro, practically bouncing in place with excitement.

"Never," breathed Silva.

"Manta's right," admitted Ren reluctantly. "He's got to be the One."

Anna said nothing, but watched the screen with no visible emotion.

*

Yoh flew back from the impact of Manta's kick, shattering the wooden pillar he collided with. He stood more slowly this time, still trying to catch his breath.

"Stop trying to hit me," said Manta, "and hit me." His right hand moved in an infuriating beckon to continue. With a frustrated yell, Yoh began again, his fists flying almost as quickly as Manta's. 

Then, in a single, incredible moment, he made contact, catching Manta in the face. 

*

The Core echoed with a chorus of gasps. 

"I don't believe it!" breathed Horohoro.

*

"You are angry with me," said Manta quietly.

The burning, frustrated fury within Yoh died quickly, shame at hurting his friend taking over. "I…uh…sorry."

"It's all right," said Manta with a smile. "It's natural."

"I feel better," said Yoh, hoping the tension between them was only temporary.

"Good. Anger is a gift in a way, but a heavy one," replied Manta cryptically. "Even for one who is rarely angry about anything." He looked toward the ceiling at nothing in particular. "Tank, load the jump program."

*

On her own ship, Kanna sat back, her boot-clad feet resting on the table before her as she lazily perused the Internet. 

"How was it?" asked a fellow crewmember, a boy, walking in and taking a seat across from her.

"Interesting," she said. "I'm not sure what levels the other kid's at yet, but we'll find out. Do you know how, Ashil?"

"How?"

"There's a transmitter on him. Minute, cheap, and disgustingly easy to plant. It was only natural that I touch his hair to see how real it was, was it not? The transmitter is on his scalp, monitoring his mind. It's not high-definition technology, but it'll give us the basic idea of what's happening."

"And Luchist knows?"

"Luchist approves."

"What about Hao?"

She shook her head, taking a drag from her cigarette. "No," she replied, breathing out a cloud of smoke. "He might not like us tampering with his little brother. I'm not about to tell him."

__

To be continued

To mouse-chan, I have figured out where to put Amidamaru in, but it will be another chapter or so. ^_^ 


	10. Midnight Tea

Yay!  I now have occasional access to the Internet on a friend's computer.  Hopefully I'll be able to upload relatively regularly from now on.

To da*mouse: Luchist represents no one from the Matrix.  I added him myself sort of to be for Hao what Manta is for Yoh, mostly because I needed to get the Asakura bros on different ships.  The whole thing _is_ a little bit of a race, because to find the One would mean pretty much infinite honor (and bragging rights.)  To be honest, in preliminary outlines for this story, Hao actually almost ended up on the _Logos _(from Reloaded), with Kanna as Niobe (for the Morpheus-Niobe tension, you know?) but I thought any reference to even a past Manta/Kanna relationship would be nothing short of an affront to Shaman King.  ^_~

            Yoh looked about at the new scenery.  The dojo was gone, and he and Manta were standing on top of a building about fifty stories high.  The entire scenery was a teeming metropolis, and several other buildings rose to similar levels nearby.  "This is the jump program?" he asked.

            Manta nodded.  

            _This is what Hao was talking about.  He said he made it on his first try.  I guess I'll have to see if I can live up to that._  

            "You'll have to let go of any anger and frustration.  You have to let go of everything.  Free your mind."  So saying, he turned, ran to the edge of the rooftop, and jumped.  

            Before Yoh had a chance to even cry out, Manta had sailed in a huge, graceful arc to the roof of the next building.  There he stood, an impossible amount of meters away, waiting.  Yoh stared.  No way he could do that.  

            But Morpheus was waiting.

            Hao had done it.

            Taking a deep breath, Yoh braced himself.  "Okay.  Free my mind.  Yeah.  No problem."  Biting his lip in concentration, he ran, racing toward the edge.

*

            "He's going to make it," breathed Faust, still watching the screen with the rest of the crew clustered around.

            "No way," said Ren.  "It's not possible."

            "What if he does?" proposed Pilica.

            "He won't," replied Ren stubbornly.

            "It's never been done," reasoned Silva.

            Anna clasped her hands so hard her knuckles turned white and the skin beneath her fingers turned painfully red.  "Come on…"

*

            With a cry, Yoh flung himself into the air.  He could see Manta, watching with concentration and suspense, could envision reaching that other edge.

            And then he was falling, plummeting as the windows sped by, his stomach painfully clenched.  He could see the black asphalt of the street flying up to meet him, and braced himself for the fatal impact.

            There was no sickening crunch at the end, though.  The road dented in response, cushioning his fall, and then bounced him back up as if it were elastic.  When he landed the second time, it was solid.  He lay there for a moment, his heart pounding in his ears, the adrenaline pumping through his system.  

            Manta came to his side and offered him a hand.  "Everyone falls the first time."

            Yoh nodded, though he was thinking of Hao.

            "If you never know failure, how can you know success?"

            _Ask my brother that,_ thought Yoh with disappointment.  _He's the one who knows success._

*

            The group around the screens began to disperse now that there was nothing more to see.  "What does it mean?" asked Horohoro to no one in particular.

            "It doesn't mean anything," said Faust quietly as Silva brought the Yoh and Manta back to the real world.

            "Everyone falls, right Anna?" asked Lyserg.  He turned to see her expression at Yoh's failure, but she was gone.  No one had noticed her leave the Core.

            Yoh opened his eyes as he let out a small groan of pain.  Silva gently eased the plug from the back of his head, and then went to help Manta.  Ignoring Horohoro's hand offered in help for the moment, Yoh stuck two fingers in his mouth and removed them coated in scarlet.  "I thought it wasn't real," he said softly, looking at the blood.  A thought tugged at his mind.  "If you're killed in the matrix, do you die here too?"

            Manta's lips thinned into a grim line.  "The body cannot live without the mind."

*

            True to Silva's promise, Yoh had no trouble at all falling asleep that night.  He skipped dinner entirely, in fact, and went straight to his room.  It was a blissfully dreamless rest despite his turbulent thoughts and concerns, one he badly needed.

            Around eleven at night, the door opened ever so slightly, allowing in a thin spear of light from the hallway, framing Anna's silhouette.  She entered noiseless, bearing a tray with a bowl and cup.  "I saved you some dinner," she whispered, though she didn't expect a response.  

            Yoh did not stir, the steady rise and fall of his chest not losing its gentle rhythm.  She placed the tray down on a small desk-like shelf protruding from the wall opposite his bed and pulled the rumpled mass of blanket from the floor.  Shaking it out once, she spread it gently over him, then stood back, simply studying the youth before her.  

            He looked surprisingly young when he was asleep, innocent and untroubled by the state of the world around him.  For a moment, he was nothing more than the boy who had blushed when he touched her.  She smiled in spite of herself, remembering his untainted awkwardness, so different from the worldly self-confidence of his brother.  She wondered if there was any significance in these observations.  Perhaps it meant something.  Perhaps it meant nothing.

            Like the jump.  Faust had said it meant nothing, but she couldn't be quite sure.  She turned and left the room, closing the door softly behind her.

            The moment the latch clicked shut, Yoh started awake, for a moment unsure of where he was.  Then he relaxed as everything came back.  Turning on the small bedside light, he sat up.  Oddly enough, he didn't feel sleepy anymore.  

            Looking over his narrow, Spartan room for something to do, he caught sight of the dinner.  He wasn't hungry though, and passed it by without a second glance as he left his room.  Perhaps he could find wiring to repair or something.  

            Yoh wandered the halls, hoping vaguely that he didn't get lost as he had that afternoon.  The halls were darker, and some passages were barely lit at all.  Feeling his way by lightly brushing his fingertips along the wall, he walked through the shadows, still feeling as if it was all perhaps a dream.

            A green glow from a branch of the hall caught his eye.  He followed it, and found himself in the Core once again.  It was empty and still now, except for a lone figure, sitting in front of the forever scrolling command screens.  

            "Lyserg?" Yoh ventured.

            The boy jumped and spun around, then relaxed.  "Oh.  Yoh, you scared me."

            "Sorry," he said, leaning on a large metal box of discs.  

            "It's all right," said Lyserg, turning back to the screens.

            "What're you doing?"

            "Midnight watch."

            Yoh leaned closer to the screen, studying the flowing streams of numbers and symbols.  "Is that…?"

            "The matrix?  Yeah.  You get used to it.  I don't see the numbers anymore; I see people, buildings, trees…" Lyserg took a reflective sip from the cup he held.  "Want a drink?"

            "Sure."

            Lyserg poured some unidentifiable liquid into another cup from a jug he had nearby and handed it to Yoh, who took a sip.  He pulled a face, studying the contents of his mug.  "What is this?"

            "Not bad, eh?  Faust makes it.  It's the closest thing we have to proper English tea here.  Grows on you, but I kind of miss the original stuff."

            "Are you English?"

            "In the matrix, I suppose I was," Lyserg said softly.  "But I guess we're all Zion's now."

            "Yeah."

            "Did Morpheus tell you why he freed you?"

            Yoh scratched his head.  "Sort of, I guess."

            "He thinks you're the One," said Lyserg, not looking away from the screens.  Their green luminescence looked uncanny reflecting off his emerald eyes.  "The one who will deliver humanity from the machines and free us all."

            "Big job," said Yoh, his heart sinking.

            "Yes.  This…isn't the first time Manta's thought he found the One.  Just thought you should know."

            "Yeah," said Yoh.  "Thanks."  A pause.  "So you think it might be someone else?  You know, not me?"

            Lyserg shrugged, a glint of pain in his eyes.  "I can't say.  But you, you haven't met an Agent face to face in all their fighting form and when they know who you really are.  Things…things change when that happens.  You get a taste of real life."  He took another sip.  "Sometimes it's kind of bitter."

            "Have you run into any Agents?"

            The green-haired boy took a sip from his empty cup.  "We all have.  Some more than others, though."  His voice stopped for a moment as if on its own accord.  "It's not something I would wish on anyone."

            Yoh felt a shiver grip him.  

            "Everyone comes away scarred in one way or another.  We've all lost something to them.  Or someone.  I've…lost friends to the Agents."

            _…Agents.  They don't play games.  They kill you._  Yoh flinched, the echo of Anna's voice reverberating in his mind.  Why was it always her voice he heard?  "I'm sorry," he said quietly.

            "It's the real world," said Lyserg quietly.  "Like mothers always say, life's not fair.  They never tell you how really ugly it can be too."

            "Or beautiful."

            "Neh?"

            "People also say that life is beautiful.  Have you heard that one?"

            "I have.  But sometimes I wonder if they're just dreamers."

            "I think it's beautiful," said Yoh, a vision of soft skin and golden hair rising in his mind.  He hurriedly pushed it away.  "She's – I mean, _it's_ not something I'd want to lose, not something I'd give up readily."

            Lyserg gave him a curious glance, perhaps wondering at the slip of words.  He chose to ignore it, though.  "I suppose you do have a point there."  

            There was a moment of quiet as the topic seemed to die, and they searched for something new.  "Ah…is it usual for siblings to be on the same ship?  I mean, Horohoro and Pilica are brother and sister, right?  And Silva and Chrom…"

            "Same family, but not brothers.  Second cousins or something, I think.  But Horohoro and Pilica are siblings.  I suppose it might be a little unusual.  Being ready to be freed is not always something that runs in the family.  Sometimes we leave people behind.  A lot of them leave parents because adults are harder to free.  Like Morpheus said, they have trouble letting go."

            "Oh…  Did you…?"

            "Leave my parents?  No."  Lyserg poured himself another cup of pseudo-tea.  "I was an orphan years before I was freed."

            "That's tough," said Yoh with genuine sympathy.

            "I don't really remember them."

            "I know how that is.  When I was one, our house burned down.  My mom got my brother and me out, but my dad didn't make it.  I guess I never appreciated it like I should have, but it must have been hard being a single mom trying to raise twin boys.  My grandparents helped some too, but still."

            Lyserg nodded.  "I spent most of my time in foster homes, moving from family to family."  He closed his eyes momentarily.  "I stayed the longest at the last home, even dared to hope I might be adopted.  I wouldn't be the first.  The family had one son, almost ready for college, but they had also adopted a daughter pretty close to my age."

            "Sounds like a good place," said Yoh.

            "Yes," he replied softly, wistfully.  "It was one of the few places I really felt loved.  But…" He swallowed.  "But the Agents took my foster sister and brother a little before I was freed."

            _He knows what it's like to lose a brother more than I do,_ realized Yoh with a jolt.  "I…I'm sorry," was all he could manage to say, though the condolences sounded so useless.

            Lyserg was silent.

            "Hey, um, thanks for the drink," said Yoh, placing his cup back down.  "I'll be going back to bed now."

            "Sure," said Lyserg.  "Oyasumi."  He said no more, immersed in the memories as Yoh's footsteps faded into the darkness.

~~~

            _"I can't get this to work," said the little boy, his green eyes bright and excited as he held out the contraption of wires.  _

_            The person he had been addressing, a youth of about eighteen, looked up from his book on the Crusades.  "What is that?"_

_            "I'm making it!  I want it so that when I put in batteries, that lever will move, see?"_

_            "Lemme have a look, Lyserg," said the older boy, sitting down on the floor and examining the object.  "I think I can fix it."_

_            "Really?"_

_            A casual nod._

_            Lyserg laughed, pleased.  "You're the best brother I ever had, Marco!"_

_            "What about me?" asked a voice from the doorway._

_            Lyserg looked up and grinned.  "And you're the best sister, Jeanne!"_

_            "Are your parents home, kid?"_

_            Lyserg gazed up at the two men in pale grey suits standing on the doorstep.  "Yeah…"_

_            His foster parents came quickly at his call.  The men showed them a pair of official-looking badges, and Lyserg caught something about computers.  He followed timidly as they walked to the back room, where they found Jeanne typing avidly, her eyes focused on the screen, though she glanced at the strangers with dislike._

_            "She likes to write little stories or play the elementary learning games we have," explained his foster mother, obviously nonplussed by their unexpected visitors.  _

_            The pale-suited men did not respond.  "Young lady," said the first man, "I need you to take your hands off the keyboard for a moment."_

_            Quietly, Jeanne obliged; Lyserg noticed her hands shaking._

_            "How old are you?" asked the second man._

_            "Eight," said Jeanne quietly._

_            The first man studied the screen, his face grim.  She had obviously neither been writing a tale nor playing children's games.  Not according to what he saw there.  "Do you know what you were doing?"_

_            She paused, and then shook her head._

_            "Do you know what you were looking at?"_

_            Another shake of the head._

_            "These are confidential government files.   How did you get to these?"_

_            Her mother covered her mouth.  Jeanne said nothing._

_            "Answer the man," urged her father, his voice shaking slightly._

_            "I don't know."_

_            "Has anyone shown you how to do this?"_

_            "No.  I just was pushing buttons.  I was pretending I was driving a spaceship."_

_            Faced with the hard facts of her age, the man was forced to accept her excuse for the moment, though he obviously was not convinced.  They left with a warning for the parents to monitor computer activity more closely._

_            "You have to be more careful next time!  That was too close!"_

_            Lyserg stood unnoticed in the doorway as Marco chastised Jeanne._

_            "They won't catch me," said Jeanne quietly._

_            "It's too dangerous.  I don't want anything happening to you, or for Lyserg to get dragged in."_

_            "Urghh, Lyserg, you're too heavy!"_

_            "No, boost me up a little farther!  I can almost reach the platform!"_

_            Marco stood back as his foster brother scrambled up to join Jeanne on the platform in the big tree that grew in their back yard.  "Okay up there?"_

_            "Yeah!  Come on up!"_

_            "I can't!"_

_            "You can climb the rope ladder!  Come on!" urged Jeanne, letting her hair drape over the edge as she looked down at her older brother._

_            "I'm too big," laughed Marco.  "I'll break the tree!"_

_            Lyserg snorted.  "No you won't."  
            So Marco made his way up, snapping several thin branches in the process, but eventually succeeding in joining his younger siblings.  "Nice view up here."_

_            "Yeah," said Lyserg.  "I can see the roof of our house three meters away."_

_            "Cynical," teased Marco, leaning back against the trunk of the tree.  "Lovely day, though, isn't it?"_

_            Jeanne nodded.  "But don't you feel like it's not real?"_

_            Lyserg looked at her quizzically.  "What do you mean?"_

_            "Like it's just some sort of setup.  Like there's more.  Like we don't belong here."_

_            The boys were silent for a moment._

_            "Yeah…" said Marco quietly._

_            "Where do we belong then?" asked Lyserg._

_            Jeanne looked away, studying the intricate veins on the leaves around her.  "I don't know."_

_            "Check this out!"_

_            Lyserg and Jeanne came to see what Marco was looking at.  He pushed the screen of his laptop back a little so they could get a good view.  He had been watching a hacker chat room, and something interesting had cropped up._

_            Someone, screen name Ashcroft53, was claiming to understand the words "matrix" and "Agents."  _

_            "It says," paraphrased Marco for his younger siblings, "that Agents are pure data, that they can take over almost anyone by a rearrangement of that data, and that they can do things people would think impossible."  His eyes held an enraptured light.  "Don't you see?  _This_ is power!"_

_            "You can't be an Agent, Marco," said Lyserg, a pleading tone in his voice, frightened by the growing obsession in his foster brother.  "You said they're pure data!  We're human!"_

_            Marco put his forehead in his hands.  "I know, Lyserg, but have you heard what Agents do?  They protect and preserve the world as it is now!  Their strength is incredible; it outweighs anything in history!  I could learn, but I can't seem to contact anyone that can help me!"_

_            "Aren't you happy with us?" asked Jeanne.  "Do you have to look for a chance to run off and be a hero?  Must you bring the Agents down upon us?"_

_            Marco looked at her oddly, contemplating what she had just said.  "Bring them…" He snapped his fingers.  "That's it!  They came once before, came to _us_.  Called by…" his eyes swept over Jeanne, the light in them making Lyserg grasp her hand protectively "…you."_

_            "No more, Marco, please," begged Lyserg, helping Jeanne ice her bruises.  _

_            She said nothing, but sat stoically, her eyes blank._

_            "You're improving," said Marco to his sister, approval in his voice.  "It was already extraordinary that you didn't break anything on your first jump from the tree house, and now it's looking more and more like a graceful jump than a fall.  You're learning to control what's around you as well as yourself."_

_            "Why can't you learn yourself!" demanded Lyserg.  "Why can't you leave Jeanne out of this?"_

_            "Because," said Marco, "She has potential I can only dream of."_

_            "And I am learning," said Jeanne quietly, her eyes fixed on the roll of gauze nearby.  Slowly, as she concentrated, it unrolled itself and wrapped itself around her scraped knee.  "I can manipulate what I see."_

_            "Like you can manipulate a computer," said Lyserg, the pieces falling impossibly together._

_            "Yes."_

_            As Marco had predicted, the Agents did come, drawn by the increasing power the three children had toyed with.  Though Jeanne was still strides ahead of both her brothers, Lyserg and Marco had also begun to learn to influence their surroundings little by little.  _

_            But the Agents would not be swayed.  "Look, kid," said one of the two who had come, "we can't just make you an Agent.  You're human."_

_            Lyserg watched, uneasy about Marco's dealings, reluctant to stand next to him as Jeanne was.  Both seemed so different from the people he had once known._

_            "You aren't my only option," said Marco coldly.  "There's still Zion."_

_            The Agents exchanged glances.  "Zion is only death."_

_            "Chances are, though, I know a lot more about Agents than almost anyone in Zion.  That could be a problem for you."_

_            A pause.  "You know that should we choose to take you over as an Agent, you will lose all you once were, memories included."_

_            "I don't care."_

_            Lyserg flinched at these words and was about to run to his foster brother when a hand caught his arm.  He turned to see a boy of about his size with short, light brown hair.  "Don't," said the boy.  "They're not your brother and sister anymore.  It's too dangerous."_

_            "What's happened to them?" asked Lyserg, strangely afraid._

_            "You'll understand later, but it's not safe here or now.  You have to get away from them as soon as possible.  My name is Morpheus; will you trust me?"_

_            Lyserg looked around the corner again._

_            "They have already become mostly data.  They will join the Agents," said Morpheus quietly, a touch of sadness in his voice.  "I cannot save them, but there is still hope for you."_

_            Lyserg turned back to him. "How do you know all this?"_

_            "I know the truth, nothing more.  We are running out of time."_

_            "Okay," said Lyserg quietly._

_            "Will you trust me enough to leave them behind?"_

_            Already, the atmosphere was changing.  They could feel the presence of the Agents, suddenly forbidding and unfriendly.  "Yes."_

_            Morpheus opened his hand to reveal two capsules.  "Then take the red pill.  We have no time."_

_~~~_

            Lyserg shivered and downed another sip of tea.  The crew of the Nebuchadnezzer was close enough to family, but there was still a painful void they could not fill.

To be continued… 

This is kind of a longer than usual chapter – which is sad considering how much so many of you excellent writers can put into a single chapter.  *coughApple-chancough*  


	11. Revelations

Sporadic Internet access + excessive workload + writers block + sleep deprived brain cells + stubborn muses = kind of bad news for this fic

Yeah.  Sorry.  This is not officially on hiatus or anything, but updates may not be really reliable for a little while.  I'm still doing my best to keep writing though.  One thing I can't stand is leaving my readers hanging; I feel obligated to work to completion.

             The next day found Yoh and Manta walking down a busy city street even before breakfast, fighting the oncoming tide of formally dressed office workers challenging their places on the sidewalk.  Apparently unbothered by the people passing by, Manta continued to lecture on the traits of the world at hand.  "The matrix is a system, Yoh-kun," he said, continuing on as Yoh managed to barely avoid colliding with a man talking on a cell phone.  "That system is our enemy.  But when you're in it, what do you see?"

            Yoh tripped on a curb, trying to keep up with Manta's smooth, unhampered stride, even through the heavy human traffic.

            "There are business people, teachers, lawyers, carpenters…  The minds of the very people we are trying to save.  But until we do, they are still part of that system, and that makes them our enemy."

            Yoh eyed the people around him nervously.  

            "You have to understand," continued Manta, "most of these people are not ready to be unplugged.  And many of them are so dependent on the system that they would fight to preserve it."

            His voice seemed to fade out as something caught Yoh's eye.  It was a gorgeous, curvaceous blond, dressed in a brilliant, crimson, figure-hugging dress with virtually nonexistent straps and a slit on the left side up to _there_.  She almost brushed against him as she glided past, striding with ease despite the fact that she was wearing stilettos.  

            "Were you listening to me, Yoh-kun?" demanded Manta.  "Or were you watching the woman in the red dress?"

            Yoh guiltily jumped back to attention.  "I was…"

            "Look again," said Manta quietly.

            Yoh turned back to where the woman had been, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a .45, grasped in the hand of Agent Marco.

            "Freeze it," said Manta, and instantly, the scene ceased to move.

            "This…this isn't the matrix?" asked Yoh weakly, shaken by the unpleasant surprise.

            "No," said Manta.  "This is another training program designed to teach you one thing.  If you are not one of us, you are one of them."

            "What are they?"

            "The Agents.  Sentient programs, able to move in an out of any thing still hard-wired into the matrix.  So anyone we haven't unplugged could potentially become one of them.  They are no one and everyone.  We have survived only by hiding and running from them.  But they are the gatekeepers.  They are holding all the keys, which means that sooner or later, someone is going to have to fight them."

            Yoh could feel his heart sinking as Manta's gaze bore into him.  "Someone?" he managed to ask.

            "I won't lie to you, Yoh-kun," said Manta heavily.  "Every single man or woman who has stood their ground, everyone who has fought an Agent has died.   Faust's wife Elisa was the most recent casualty," he added quietly.  "But where they have failed, you will succeed."

            "Why?" asked Yoh, feeling completely baffled.

            "I've seen an Agent punch through a concrete wall," mused Manta.  "Men have emptied entire clips at them and hit nothing but empty air.  But their speed and strength is based on a world of rules.  Because of that, they will never be as strong or as fast as you can be."

            "What are you telling me?" queried Yoh, not comforted in the least.  "That I can dodge bullets?"

            Manta shook his head with a slight smile.  "No.  I'm trying to tell you that when you're ready, you won't have to."

*

            "Eat up," said Anna, dropping a bowl of what looked like overly liquid-like mush in front of Yoh.  "You've got a big day ahead of you."

            "Thanks," said Yoh, eyeing the food dubiously.  He had been eating the same thing since he had arrived without any adverse effects, but it still looked questionable.

            "You know," put in Horohoro cheerfully, "if you close your eyes, it almost feels like you're eating runny eggs."

            "Yeah," said Ren sourly (he was apparently not a morning person), "that or a bowl of snot."

            "Know what it reminds me of?" asked Horohoro, not at all put out.  "Tasty Wheat.  Did you ever eat Tasty Wheat?"

            "No," said Pilica, obviously used to playing devil's advocate for her brother.  "But technically, neither did you."

            "That's exactly my point!" exclaimed Horohoro, banging his spoon on the table with unnecessary vigor.  "Exactly!  Because you have to wonder now: how did the machines know what Tasty Wheat tasted like?  Huh?"  He left what was supposed to be a thoughtful silence before his next point.  "Maybe they got it wrong.  Maybe what I think Tasty Wheat tasted like actually tasted like tuna fish or oatmeal.  That makes you wonder about _a lot_ of things.  You take chicken for example.  Maybe they couldn't figure out what to make chicken taste like, which is why chicken tastes like everything.  Maybe they –"

            "Shut up, Horohoro," snapped Ren.

            The blue haired boy shot him a sulky glare.

            "It's a singe-cell protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals," explained Faust, ever the technical doctor.  "Everything the body needs."

            "Not everything," argued Horohoro.  He turned to Yoh.  "Hey, I heard you ran through the Agent training program.  You know, I wrote that program."

            "Here it comes," groaned Ren, massaging his temples.

            "So, what did you think of her?" asked Horohoro excitedly.

            "Of who?" asked Yoh, puzzled.

            "The woman in the red dress!" said Horohoro impatiently.  "I designed her!  She doesn't talk much yet, but if you'd like to meet her…"

            "Look, _Mouse_," snapped Ren, "just because you could never get a girlfriend…"

            "Not like you could either," shot back Horohoro, pricked by the remark.

            "Oh yeah?"

            "Hey, guys," said Yoh, "no need to fight over this!"

            Horohoro settled back in his seat with a glare at Ren.  

            Manta stood and cleared his throat, fully breaking up the squabble.  "Chrom, Silva, when you're done eating, bring the ship up to broadcast depth.  We're going in.  I'm taking Yoh to see her."

            "See who?" asked Yoh.

            "The Oracle," answered Anna, her heart pounding excitedly behind her calm front.  The day of truth had come.

*

            They entered the matrix in room 1313 of the very same hotel where Yoh and Manta had first met.  Immediately, Manta began giving orders, making sure everything would go according to plan.  "Faust, Horohoro, you stay here and hold the exit."

            "'Kay," said Horohoro, immediately plopping down on a large cushioned chair nearby.  Faust nodded and seated himself in a straight-backed chair and pulled out a book to read.

            "Lyserg, you and Pilica will watch the downstairs door."

            The boy nodded.  

            "Ren will drive, and Anna will accompany us."

            They followed Manta to the elevator, Yoh toying nervously with his hands as they descended.  "Did you have to do this?" he asked Anna quietly.

            "Yes."

            "What did she tell you?"

            "Lots of things," she answered evasively.

            "Any of them true?"

            Anna looked at him curiously, and then back at the closed elevator doors.  "Some of them."

            "Were they good or bad?"

            "There's not point in worrying," she chided, perhaps slightly annoyed.  "Whatever's going to happen is going to happen."

            They stepped out into the bright sun shining down on the alley behind the hotel.  All of them dressed in sleek, long black coats, except for Pilica, who sported stylish white, they trooped down the steps to a sleek car waiting for them.  After waiting a moment to make sure the coast was clear, Anna, Ren, Manta, and Yoh walked to the vehicle and got in.  Pilica and Lyserg watched silently as they drove off.  

            No one noticed Lyserg carefully drop an object into the nearest garbage can.  It was his cellular phone, the kind everyone on the Nebuchandezzer carried when they were in the matrix.  It lay there, still on, simply waiting.

            The Agents would trace its signal and location easily exactly as Marco had planned.

*

            "Weird," said Yoh, looking out the car window.

            "What?" asked Anna.

            "I know that restaurant back there.  I used to eat there sometimes…really good noodles."  He rubbed the back of his head absently.  "I mean, I have all these memories that never really happened…"

            "We're here," said Ren.  "Anna and I will wait with the car."

*

            Yoh followed Manta into a perfectly ordinary apartment building and up several flights of stairs.  They trekked down a narrow hall that finally ended at a plain, dingy door.  

            "This is it," said Manta quietly.  "I can only lead you to it, but you have to open the door."

            _Back to the odd, random little symbols, are we? _sighed Yoh mentally.  Aware that his hand was shaking oddly, he reached for the knob.

            It turned before he could touch it, revealing a kindly looking young woman with spiked green hair and a long black dress.  "Hello, Morpheus," she said with a smile.  "We've been expecting you.  And Neo."  Her eyes rested on Yoh for a moment before she stepped aside to allow them in.

            "Thank you," said Manta politely.  He turned to Yoh.  "You're on your own now.  Jun will show you the way."

            Yoh nodded nervously and followed the young woman.  She led him to a brighter room, already holding several people ranging in age from grade school to possible university graduates.  He had never seen a group quite like what met his eyes.  

            They all looked perfectly ordinary, except for the fact that they seemed talented in the oddest ways.

            "You will wait here," said Jun.  "With the other Potentials."

            "Okay."

            His eyes swept the room.  In the corner, a boy with light tousled hair was watching a girl that might have been his sister (her hair was the same color and texture, but longer and in braids) levitate a handful of building blocks.  Even as Yoh watched, she passed them carefully over to the boy next to her, and he continued to make them float without touching them.

            Yoh blinked a few times, and then took a seat nearby two young men in about their early twenties.  One had lavender hair that seemed to spike every which way, while the other had a simpler hairstyle in dark brown.  

            The first was holding a Japanese samurai sword at arm's length, concentrating on it with all his mind.  Yoh stared as fissures lined the blade, and it suddenly shattered all over the floor.  The lavender haired youth laughed.  "Told you.  You can't make a sword I can't break yet, Mosuke."

            Mosuke took the now bladeless handle and concentrated on it in a similar fashion.  The shards picked themselves off the floor or pulled themselves from the wall, and reformed like liquid into a flawless blade.  "There," he said with a grin.  "Try this one, Amidamaru."

            "How do you do that?" asked Yoh, his mouth agape.

            "Try," offered Amidamaru, handing the sword to Yoh.

            He took it, held it out like he had seen the other youth do, and concentrated.  He focused his mind completely, willing with all his might that the sword might break.  He could feel his eyes almost glaring at it, as if he could fissure it with his stare, could picture it cracking within his mind.

            Absolutely nothing happened.  

            He sat back, slightly worn from the effort, shaking his head.  Somehow, he couldn't believe that he could do it, and it was as if as long as that little shard of doubt remained, the sword would remain whole

            "You cannot break the sword, because it is just that.  A sword," said Amidamaru gently.  "With me, it can shatter because there is no sword, just my mind."

            "You break your mind?" asked Yoh doubtfully, rather put off by the analogy.

            "One could say so," mused Mosuke, "but not the way you're thinking.  It's not as if he's giving up his sanity; heaven knows he has little enough to spare."

            Amidamaru grinned at his friend.  "Speak for yourself."  He turned back to Yoh.  "I choose each fissure that appears; it's not random.  I spread my mind, and thus the fragments."

            "In the same way, I gather them back," added Mosuke.

            Yoh studied the blade in his hands.  It looked so terribly solid.

            "Link yourself to the sword," advised Amidamaru.

            "Like the sword is the soul of the samurai, right?" asked Yoh.

            Amidamaru nodded approvingly.  "It is a start.  Become the sword and loosen the tension within.  You are perhaps too concentrated around what you perceive as reality."

            Yoh nodded, his eyes still fixed on the gleaming metal, but without the painful single-mindedness as before.  "There is no sword.  Right."  For a moment, he saw no change.  Then, gradually, thread-thin cracks began to line the blade, spreading slowly and meticulously.

            A hand on his shoulder startled him, though, and the metal was suddenly unblemished again.  He turned to see Jun standing behind him.  

            "The Oracle will see you now."

            He nodded and returned the sword to Amidamaru, who merely smiled.

*

            Nervously, Yoh walked through the doorway into the room where the Oracle awaited him.  To his surprise, the room actually a normal apartment kitchen, and was empty except for a girl about his age with short pink hair, bending over slightly to look in an oven.  Whatever was baking smelled divine.  "Be with you in a moment, Yoh-sama," she said, not looking up.  Her voice was quiet, with a shy sort of tone, but not at all lacking in intelligence.  After a moment, she straightened, and turned to face him.

            He couldn't help staring, rather baffled.  "You're the Oracle?"

            "Yes.  From what everyone told you, you thought I'd look ancient, didn't you?" she asked.

            "Well, yes…but you're _pretty._"

            She blushed profusely.  "Thank you.  Your brother said that too when he came.  Called me the 'Oracle Belle.'  Charming, silly boy."  The crimson tint in her cheeks had not faded.  "Only as old as I feel, I suppose.  I take advantage of the RSI like Morpheus."  She paused, studying him.  "I'd ask you to sit down, but you won't anyway."  She pulled out some potholders and opened the oven.  "Oh, and, please, don't worry yourself about the vase.  I really don't mind."

            "What vase?" asked Yoh, starting to feel decidedly awkward.  He turned, trying to see what she was talking about, and his arm hit a glazed ceramic piece holding a bunch of neatly arranged flowers.  It toppled from its little stand and smashed on the floor in several fragments, splattering water and soggy petals.  _Klutz,_ said a disdainful voice inside him.  

            "That vase," said the Oracle quietly.

            "I'm sorry!" he gasped, leaning down to try and retrieve the shards.  "I…"

            "I told you," she said kindly, putting down the hot cookie sheet and carefully moving the cookies onto a cooling rack, "don't worry about it.  Mosuke-san can help me fix it later."

            "But how did you know…?"

            She smiled, her eyes looking down at the mess.  "If you really want something to wonder about, try this: do you think you still would have broken it if I hadn't said anything?"

            He opened his mouth, baffled, but said nothing.  

            She stood back, her eyes taking him in, though she did not fully raise her face to him.  "You really do look like your twin.  Different sort of charm, though.  More empathetic."  She gave a wistful smile.  "I can see why she likes you."

            "Who?" asked Yoh, not sure what she meant.

            "Not so bright, though," she remarked to herself, though gently.  Yoh thought he caught a teasing undertone.  "Now, do you know why Morpheus brought you here?"

            "I…guess…"

            "So, do you _think _you're the One, the man who will free humanity?"

            _Why did everyone he meet throw impossible questions at him?_  "I…I don't know."

            She sighed and gestured to an intricate wooden plaque above the doorway.  The words were unintelligible to Yoh.  "It's Latin," she said.  "It means 'know thyself.'  To be honest, being the One is like…" she paused, looking for a metaphor, "like being in love."  A hint of the blush again as she looked at him.  "No one can tell you you're in love, but you know it.  Through and through."  Putting down the potholders, she held out her hand shyly.  "Nothing personal, but I need to have a look at you."

            Still unsure of himself, Yoh put his hand in hers.  She examined both his palms and then his face, her timidity fading as she focused on her job.  "Well," she said at last, "it's tricky.  You're definitely gifted, but…"

            "But what?"

            "You tell me."  At the sound of her quiet voice, he felt suddenly as if he shared a little of her knowledge."

            "I'm not the One," he replied.

            "Yes," she said.  "The bad news is that you're not the One.  Still got a lot to learn.  Almost like you're waiting for something."

            "What's the good news?"

            "Same thing," she said wryly.  "You're not the One."

            He let out a sigh, whether of disappointment, or of relief, he wasn't quite sure.  "Oh."

            "You're thinking about something," she said.

            "Yeah," he agreed quietly.  "Morpheus.  I almost believed…"

            "Morpheus," she said reflectively.  "Poor Morpheus.  We'd be lost without him."  

            "What do you mean without him?"

            "Are you sure you want to hear this?" she asked, her clear eyes so serious it almost gave him chills.  Despite her quiet, schoolgirl-age appearance, he caught the knowledge within her, and sensed the wisdom of millennia weighing on her.  

            He nodded mutely.

            "Morpheus believes in you," she said, her eyes growing blank as she looked over the future, the past, and the hearts of humanity.  "He believes in you so blindly that no one, not you or I, can persuade him otherwise.  He believes so much that he will sacrifice his life for you."

            "What?" _Manta…will die?_

            "I'm sorry," she said, looking as if she truly regretted being the bearer of bad tidings.  "But you'll have to make a choice eventually.  In one hand you will have Morpheus' life…in the other you will have yours.  One of you is going to die.  Which will be up to you."  She put a hand to her face with a sigh.  "I'm so sorry.  You have such a good soul, I wish I had better news for you."  She turned, as if looking for an excuse to turn her attention somewhere else, then used a napkin to pick up a cookie from the cooling rack.  "Here, have a cookie."

            He took it, but without the enthusiasm he usually displayed when welcoming food.  

            "It's okay," she assured him.  

            He shrugged, unable to come up with a proper response.  "Hao came here too?" he asked finally, drawing on something she had said earlier.

            She nodded.  "He did."

            "What…what did you…is he…?"

            She leaned back against the counter.  "You want to know if he's the One."

            "Yeah."

            "I usually tell my visitors only what concerns them, not the predictions I've given others."  She seemed to ponder his question further.  "Trinity told you that at the very beginning, there was a man who knew the matrix for what it was and had great power in controlling it.  He passed some of that on to the rest of us before he died."

            Yoh waited, wondering where this would go.

            "When he died, I knew that he would return."

            "You predicted his coming would free humanity."

            "His coming would herald the emancipation of mankind."

            "Yes.  And?"

            "He has come again.  Hao was that man."

            For a moment, Yoh could not breathe.  "Hao??"

            "Yes."

            An instant of awful silence.  "Don't worry about it," she said softly, somehow painfully.  "You don't believe in fate, remember?"  It was as if she were reading off a script, the script of the little time where their lives intersected, and didn't want to see what had and would happen.  "Nothing is in control of your life."  She looked at him, a sad affection in her eyes.  "Eat the cookie.  I promise you, by the time you finish it, you'll feel fine.  You've got a big day ahead of you."

            "Th…thanks," he said, nodding and stepping out through the doorway.

            She watched him disappear from view, and then sat down with her eyes closed.  It had been trying, meeting him, knowing what he would go through, knowing that he would love another.  The Oracle had watched Yoh from his very beginnings, known him as only one with her Sight could, but he did not know her, would never know her.  She could only care from a distance.

            But what weighed on her most of all were the things she had left unspoken, that she had known but not told.  

            And just as heavy were the bent truths flown from her mouth for his own good.

*

            Kanna's eyes narrowed, fixed on the monitors in front of her.  "I don't like this."  Standing up, she slipped a plasma gun into a holster hanging loosely at her side.  She would take care of this matter herself.

_To be continued…_


	12. First Blood

Well, I had wanted to change the storyline a little more, but I probably have to stick more to the original than I had planned.  -_-  I simply have no time any more.  Actually, depending on how my schedule continues, this may or may not have to be my last fanfic (though _hopefully_ not.)

            Jun led Yoh from the kitchen, through the room of Potentials (Amidamaru and Mosuke waved an upbeat goodbye), and into the place where Manta waited.  His heart sank when he saw his friend and remembered the newly shared prophesies, but Manta was first to speak.  "You don't have to tell me anything," he said solemnly as they left the room.  "I already know what she said."

            Yoh paused.  "You…do?"

            "Yes.  I brought it so that you could hear it yourself.  I knew it would help."  There was a surprising peace in the youth's eyes, but it unnerved Yoh.  He took another bite of his cookie instead of replying.

            "No one will ever ask you, because it is a gift from her to you and you alone," said Manta.

            _But did we hear the same thing, Manta?_ thought Yoh.  

            They reached the elevator, and he shrugged, swallowing the last bit of cookie.  

*

            "Here they come," said Anna, putting away her MP3 player as she caught sight of Manta and Yoh.

            "Yep," replied Ren, turning on the car.  "Let's go."

            "What do you think Tamao said?"

            "Whatever it was, you've gotta admit she's got a way of Seeing things."

            "True."  She slid over on the car seat to make room for Yoh, who sat down with a subdued, but unperturbed air.  

            They rode the rest of the way to the hotel in silence.

*

            Silva watched the main screens, Chrom helping with the secondary controls.  "Odd," muttered the former to himself.

            "I know," replied Chrom.  "There's never been so much activity in this area."

*

            The two waiting in room 1313 jumped simultaneously as Horohoro's cell phone rang.  Quickly flipping the object on, the boy put it to his ear.  "Helloo~o!"

            He could hear Silva sigh audibly, not quite sharing the boundless energy the blue-haired boy seemed to possess.  "They're on their way."

            "Okay!"  He snapped the phone shut and stuffed it in his pocket as he turned to Faust.  "Let's get to work!"

*

            Only Lyserg noticed the unmarked white vans gathering inconspicuously around the building.  He could feel his heart sinking; everything was going exactly according to plan.  

*

            Marco turned to Jeanne, who was quickly typing on the keyboard in front of her.  "All set?"

            "They don't stand a chance," she said quietly.  "The police are already moving in."

            "Then let's go."

            "Yes, Marco."

*

            Bringing up the back of the line, Yoh followed Anna, Morpheus, and the others up the stairs to room 1313.  Turning the corner to reach the next flight, he glanced at the doorway to the twelfth floor and found his gaze returned by a cat that appeared to be walking serenely down the hall.  It was a large feline of a yellow-orange hue with dark stripes, but its unusually sentient eyes caught Yoh's attention (not to mention the fact that it was dressed in traditional Japanese garb, was walking on its hind legs, and had two tails.)  They locked gazes for a moment, and then the cat seemed to shrug and move on.

            Yoh blinked a few times as he turned to walk up the stairs, when he chanced to look back.  Another cat, looking uncannily familiar, had just walked into view, stopped and looked at Yoh, gave something of a shrug, and strolled on.

            Yoh's mouth dropped open and he shook his head a couple times.  "Weird.  Déjà vu."

            The entire group ahead of him froze.

            "What?" asked Anna, her voice tense.

            "Oh, nothing.  I just saw a cat walk by, and then another cat followed it that looked similar."

            "Was it the same cat?"

            "Oh, I dunno.  It could have been."

            The tension in the air tightened around them.

            "What is it?" asked Yoh, wondering why he felt suddenly frightened.

            "Déjà vu is caused by a glitch in the matrix.  It usually happens when they change something."

            Everyone paused, silent, listening to the throbbing of helicopter blades through the air above them, growing ominously closer.  Manta tensed, then bolted up the stairs.  "Come on!"

*

            Silva's eyes widened as he watched the matrix, his hands freezing over the keyboard.  "No…"

            "It's a trap," breathed Chrom, his breath hissing through his teeth.  

*

            "Did you just feel something weird?" asked Faust suddenly, looking up.

            "Yeah…" Horohoro stood and threw back the nearest curtain only to find the window had turned into a solid brick wall.  "Oh no…"

            They were suddenly aware of the thudding of many feet rushing threateningly down the hall toward their room.  "Visitors."  Calmly, grimly, Faust pulled out a pair of handguns from within his long, flowing coat, flipped off the safety, and waited.

            Horohoro looked about hurriedly and then followed suit, his hand shaking as he reached for his own weapon.  He was dropped quickly by a blow from behind. "For you own good," said Faust quietly, placing Horohoro's limp form behind a few boxes and some old furniture where he would be mostly protected from stray bullets.  "You're much too young to die."

            Faust was kneeling ready in plain view, shielded just adequately by two equipment chests, when the cops broke down the door.  He fired, a gun in each hand, taking out two of the intruders and making the others duck back into the hall for cover.  Several bullets hummed angrily past, one nicking his left ear while another hit the brick that had been windows behind him.  He winced, feeling the flying shards pierce his coat, but there was no time for pain.  He had to hold out as long as possible.  

            He could hear other policemen passing by, heading toward the stairs.  "Morpheus!!" he shouted, hoping against hope that the others would hear and find another way out.  "It's a trap!!"

            His guns empty, he tossed them toward the police for something of a momentary diversion and pulled out Horohoro's weapon.   A shell slammed into his shoulder, but he still did not waver.  There was nothing but the rush of adrenaline and resounding cacophony around him as he fired until…

            C_lick!_  

            There was no response to his pull on the trigger.  His mouth twitched slightly, as if he were not sure whether to laugh or weep.  He had known it could only last so long.  He stood, his eyes raised to heaven, his hands spread empty at his sides.  "I'm coming, Elisa," he whispered; the police opened fire.

*

            Silva looked back at Faust's form, plugged into the system.  The body jerked as he was ripped apart in the matrix, blood spurting from between his lips, red on the black of the makeup he had worn since Elisa had died.  The life monitors registered no response; all the screens above him displayed unchanging flat lines.

*

            Marco touched his earpiece, listening to the report.  "One down," he said with slight satisfaction.

*

            Hearing the gunfire from upstairs, Manta turned, hurrying the others back down.  He froze suddenly, hearing the police swarming downstairs.  Taking a sharp turn, they fled down the hall of the eighth floor.  

            "We're trapped," gasped out Lyserg, his eyes wide.  "There's no way out."

            Manta turned to Anna.  "Give me your phone."

            "They'll be able to track it," she responded tersely.

            "We have no choice."  He dialed, his fingers shaking, and put the phone to his ear.  "Silva," he said, "find a structural drawing of this building and fast."

            Everyone tensed involuntarily as they heard the sound of police running down the hall a floor above them.  

            "Got it," came Silva's voice.

            "I need the main wet-wall," said Manta, his voiced hushed and hurried.

*

            Outside, Jeanne paused, a slender hand to her earpiece.  

*

            "…and go straight down the hall.  Got it?"

            "Great," said Manta, hanging up and handing the phone to Anna.

*

            Horohoro stirred, his head throbbing.  What had happened?  He remembered sitting in the room…a trap…  He sat upright; the police had been coming, but now all was eerily quiet.  Gingerly, he sat up, noticing the bullet casings littering the floor.  How long had he been out?  His eyes traveled farther around the room, taking in the pockmarked walls and the shredded curtains, one of which had been pulled down and thrown carelessly over something on the floor.  

            The boy's hands clenched as his heart jolted suddenly.  Protruding from beneath the bloodstained cloth was a pale hand and a fringe of white-blond hair.  Faust.  Crimson had pooled beneath him, drenching the edges of the curtain so that they stuck to the dingy carpet.  

            Horohoro swallowed, noticing his own gun lying on the floor beside the hand.  "Thank you," he whispered, knowing full well the corpse could not hear him.  "Hope you're happier wherever you are."  He bit his lip; it was no time to mourn.  "Say hi to Elisa for me."

            So saying, he forced himself to stand, and carefully made his way out the door.  He could hear police hurrying to and fro just a floor below him, and paused, leaning against the wall as he tried to come up with a proper escape plan.  If he could find his friends, maybe they could help each other get out.  

            Then something caught his attention.  It was a soft, sporadic sound behind the plaster and thin wood on which he leaned, sometimes scraping and sometimes faint thumps.  He grinned to himself.  He had found them.

*

            "Eighth floor," reported Jeanne, turning to Marco, who nodded approvingly.

*

            Descending through the jungle of pipes, the crew of the Nebuchadnezzar carefully picked its way down floor by floor, trying not to slip or make a sound.  All had shed their coats, knowing how cumbersome the extra material could be on the climb.  They were glad of the decision now, sweating as their aching arms lowered them gradually down closer and closer to safety.  

            Yoh paused, catching his breath, when he felt a shower of dust sprinkle itself on his head.  He looked up and felt some real consolation for the first time that day.  Rapidly but silently, Horohoro was descending to join them; he had managed to survive.  Yoh was so relieved, in fact, that he failed to concentrate for a split second.  

            His grin vanished as he realized his foot had slipped, becoming wedged between two stubborn pipes.  Annoyed with himself, he tried to free himself, but found the space to narrow to reach his trapped limb with his arms.  If he didn't move, Horohoro would never get past him, and the Agents would find them eventually.  Thinking fast, he found a quarter in his pocket and dropped it carefully.

            It bounced off the top of Anna's head.  She looked up with a murderous glare that made him freeze, but he managed to point weakly at his ensnared foot.  He could almost see her roll her eyes, even in the dim light, but she carefully climbed up to free him.  As it was, he turned out to be spectacularly stuck, and Anna had to brace her feet against the wall with all her might as she tried to prize the pipes apart just a little.  

            Yoh managed to finally pull himself free, and just in time.  Anna's hands, already damp from nervousness and the confined air between the walls, slipped, and for a moment, she fell back, hitting the wall behind her.  Yoh winced, sensing plaster cracking, even as he caught her arm to keep her from plummeting further.  

            "They're in the walls!" called a cop's voice from within the building.  
            Horohoro had only time to mutter a curse before a shower of bullets perforated the wall, spears of light piercing the shadows around them.  Anna winced, feeling a projectile snick her hair.  "Down!" she shouted, yanking sharply on Yoh's ankle, pulling him down, almost out of control.  Silence was useless, and now speed was their only priority.  She let Horohoro by as well, ready to take up the rear and make sure everyone else made it out.  

            Looking down, she gritted her teeth.  _Stupid Yoh_.  He was slowing down, waiting for her, not hurrying like he was supposed to.  Contemplations of knocking him out and dropping him the rest of the way down began forming in her head, when a section of the wall just below her gave way.  A gray-gloved hand reached through the breach, its fingers closing without hesitation around Yoh's right arm.   

            She slid down, a little closer, her hand reaching for her gun strapped to her waist.  She couldn't fire at the hand or arm for fear of hurting Yoh as well in such close quarters, but she instead shot through the wall, hoping to hit the Agent on the other side or at least distract him enough to get Yoh away.  

            It was to no avail.  She could see Yoh being visibly dragged through the wall, the Agent all but oblivious to her efforts.

            Lyserg looked up, slowing his descent for a fraction of a second, his eyes taking in Marco's hand doggedly refusing to let go of Yoh.  "Not him!" he cried on impulse, knowing how much the boy's future meant to Manta.  

            Yoh slipped backward as the Agent's grip loosened abruptly.  Before he had adequate time to recover, Anna had planted her booted foot on his shoulder and shoved down, obviously reasoning that he was better of bruised than dead.  She was about to follow when a sharp pain to her head stopped her.  

            Marco, having lost Yoh, was determined to capture at least one rebel against the system.  His fingers had closed roughly around a thick lock of Anna's hair.  He had far too strong a grip for her to yank away, so she dropped her gun to free her hands for a last-ditch effort to pry his grasp from her hair.  There was another explosion of plaster as his other hand smashed through the wall and closed around her neck.  She gritted her teeth, struggling to breathe, the pressure increasing unbearably on her windpipe.  

            It was too much.  She could feel the jagged edges of the shattered wall tearing her skin as Marco slowly but surely extracted her, pulling her away from her friends and any chance of escape.  She caught sight of Jeanne behind him, watching the struggle emotionlessly.  "I don't need help with this one," she heard him say.  "Go down a few floors and…"

            _I have to make sure she doesn't go after the rest of them…_  

            Jeanne was about to turn down the hall when she heard the sound of shattering brick and wood.  Anna had propelled herself into the Agent, shoving Marco backward and into the opposite wall with inhuman force.  She was now in the middle of the room, bleeding and so humanly frail, but still standing.  Marco picked himself up, unscathed but irate.

            "Don't need help?" repeated Jeanne lightly.

            He didn't answer, but gazed at Anna with a cold, murderous glint in his eyes.  

            She stepped back into a fighting stance.  At least she would not die easily.

*

            Within the walls, Yoh looked up momentarily, desperately.  No one was above him.  

            Horohoro grabbed his wrist.  "We have to leave her," he said quietly.

To be continued… 

Everybody's going to di~e!  ^_^  No, not really, but I am annoyingly fond of killing off characters. 


	13. Paths to Death

Arg…I'm _so_ sorry.  I've just been so incredibly busy…  *bangs head on desk*  

            Anna gritted her teeth, trying to breathe properly through her bruised throat and the pain in her side.  Three ribs at least fractured, she estimated, judging by the stubborn agony that persisted long after Marco's first kick had hit home.  

            "Enough for you?" he asked softly, a joyless, mocking laughter rippling in his taunt.

            She glared and spat blood at his feet, not bothering to wipe away the crimson trickle that trailed from her lower lip.

            All trace of a smile disappeared from his countenance as his face hardened.  "Perhaps the question is whether or not _I_ am tired of toying with _you_."  

            "Just shoot me then," she challenged, knowing full well how foolish it was to bait an Agent.  "I'm sure you're not afraid to put a bullet through my forehead."

            "No," answered Marco with infuriating equanimity.  "It's just that we rather need you alive…for the time being."

            "That's a mistake," said Anna, smiling coldly through her pain.  She launched herself toward him, flipping through the air, her right foot aiming a brutal kick at his neck.  His hand shot out to catch her and push her off balance, but she had anticipated this.  She pulled her legs in, feeling his fingers close where her ankle had been only moments before, and before he could focus on another possible danger point, caught him with a vicious punch to the face.

            He stumbled back a step and then calmly returned the blow.  She tried to dodge it, but wasn't fast enough.  She failed to suppress a gasp of pain and briefly touched the new wound on her face.  Her hand came away sticky with blood.  She looked at Marco and saw the shards of broken wall grasped in his hand, their sharp, pointed edges tipped with red.  His face twisted in a half smirk as he dropped the pieces, letting them clatter on the ground.  

            "Agents don't make mistakes," he informed her.

            Her lips thinned to a line as she threw herself forward into a handspring, ignoring the flaming pain her movements caused throughout her body even as she calculated her attack.  _He's so prepared for any frontal assault; I need to do something he's not anticipating.  _Remembering her short fight with Yoh, she decided to borrow a leaf from his book.  Instead of landing straight on, she shifted her path slightly to the right, lashing out from the side, a brief flash of triumph rushing through her as her heel caught his shoulder sharply.

            He barely swayed from the blow, but turned, following the direction of its force so that he was facing her when she regained her feet.  Before she had fully recovered her balance, his fingers caught her hair again, yanking mercilessly and throwing her down to the floor as if she weighed no more than a rag doll.  She sprawled gracelessly over the rubble-strewn surface, fragments of wall scraping everywhere it made contact with her already bleeding skin.  

            She gritted her teeth as Marco's boot pressed into the back of her neck, pushing her bruised throat down hard on the uneven floor beneath her.  He bent down over her, his fingers just ever so lightly brushing her cheek.  "You could give up now," he suggested, his voice soft and condescending.  "It would be a shame to ruin such a _pretty _face, you know."  

            She winced at his touch, teeth clenching.  No man, especially not an Agent, should be allowed to purposely touch her; she had taught even Hao that.  Battle was one thing, but this was another.  In desperation and rage, she snatched up a shard of glass just within reach and pushed it backward, hoping to stab it into his leg.  A powerful hand caught her wrist, clamping down painfully, forcing her to drop the glass.  She could almost feel the smirk on his face as his grip slowly crushed her arm.  

            But it couldn't end there.  She wouldn't let it.  Suddenly thankful for all the gymnastic-like training she had practiced back on the Nebuchadnezzar and the fact that physical rules could be stretched in the matrix, she arched her back even as her entire body screamed in protest, throwing both legs over her head, catching him in the side of the face.  

            He stumbled back, his foot leaving her neck as she righted herself with the momentum of the attack.  But she too swayed dangerously as she stood, for a moment almost about to fall back down again.  She had lost blood and was having trouble breathing; the room was spinning and warping before her eyes; this could not last much longer.  No matter how many blows she landed, it was a losing battle for her, and both combatants knew it.

            "Don't you see, little girl?" said Marco with an ill-concealed smirk.  "You can't win.  We may as well call this battle finished."

            But Anna wasn't listening.  She had suddenly realized that Jeanne was no longer standing behind Marco, watching the happenings complacently.  Then she fell forward noiselessly, an expression of slight surprise on her face, dropped from behind by a quick, sharp kick to the head from one of Jeanne's steel-studded boots.

*

            Outside of the matrix, Kanna carefully guided her ship, bringing it closer to the unsuspecting Nebuchadnezzar.

*

            "Almost there," muttered Ren.

            Speeding down floor by floor, Yoh could only think about the aching in his hands from the rough walls and that fact that Anna wasn't there to show him up when it came to being stoic.  Powdered with dust, his hair took on an aged gray appearance, but no one was worried about looks.  They only had to reach the basement level now…

*

            Silva and Chrom watched, focused entirely on the screens before them.  There was nothing they could do now.

*

            They broke through the wall at the basement level to find themselves greeted by glaring flashlights and gleaming gun barrels.  A few metal canisters clanked dully at their feet; Ren had the sense to cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve just before a thick smoke began to fill the area.  "Tear gas!" he shouted, though muffled through the material.

            Yoh managed to follow suit just in time, and a little after the rest of the group, but he could still feel the smoke burning in his nose and throat, forcing tears into his eyes.  He was suddenly half-blind, unable to see through the haze and his watering eyes.  

            Something underneath the floor was pushing up, straining to break through.  Someone whapped an arm against his shins, and he heard Ren's voice mutter, "Baka.  Move!"  Yoh stepped back and saw Ren's form wrench up the grating he had been standing on.  "Let's go.  Down here."

            They tumbled down into the slimy, damp darkness beneath as the shooting started, managing to escape just in time.  Sloshing through the muck, they gathered together several meters from their entrance point.  Manta lit a penlight and surveyed the disheveled group before him, silently counting them.  "Who's missing?" he asked quietly.

            "Anna," replied Yoh, a slight tremor in his voice.

            Manta nodded gravely.  "Who else?"

            The question caused a stir.  They hadn't noticed anyone else go missing, but the count _did_ come up one short.  

            "Lyserg," said Horohoro finally.

            It was true.  Lyserg was gone.  

*

             In the haze, Lyserg couldn't even tell up from down.  His brain seemed as fogged as the air around him, and he couldn't hear anything but the rushing roar in his own ears.  His lungs were burning with unquenchable flames as he choked, each forced breath drawing in more of the noxious gas.  His friends…his friends were gone; he couldn't see them through the thick vapor

            He was vaguely aware of the reports of guns exploding around him, but they stopped abruptly.  He looked up at the sudden quiet, his eyes streaming from the irritation; a figure was striding toward him through the smoke, apparently not experiencing any adverse effects.  Whomever it was grasped his upper arm and dragged him roughly from the danger zone and out to where the air was clearer.

            Lyserg could not banish the burning sensation from his lungs and throat, but breathing became easier as the person led him to an area more open and less cramped by battered walls and pressing, faceless gunmen.  The grip on his arm did not seem friendly, but at least he was alive.  At least there was a little hope.  But it was Marco in command of this incident, he remembered, and there would be no hope at all.  His heart sank as the hand steered him to a metal chair, where he was left alone.  He heard the heavy, crisp footsteps fading as softer ones drew near.  

            A cool, wet towel swept soothingly over his forehead as he slumped against the back of the chair.  He forced his burning, teary eyes open to meet the gaze of the crimson ones facing him.  "Jeanne!" he gasped out through his raw throat.

            She jumped back, startled at his sudden recovery.  Then she straightened, her face clouding over sternly.  "You will address me as Holy Agent Jeanne or Agent-sama," she informed him in a toneless voice.

            He turned his gaze away so she wouldn't see the hurt in his face.  They were in the back of a white van, he noticed, and no one else seemed to be about.  "Yes, Agent-sama."  He looked back at her, unable to keep his eyes from her face for very long.  "But…you were almost my sister.  Why can I not…?" his voice faded, unable to finish the plea or voice the pain.

            Her face remained blank.  "Marco is my only brother."  
            "Don't…don't you know me?"  His throat constricted, whether from the residue of the tear gas or from emotion, he didn't know.  He doubled over, coughing painfully.

            She shook her head, handing him a glass of water.  "Only that you are a rebel against the system.  Why Marco chooses to let you live is beyond me."

            His eyes caught the gun hanging in the holster at her side; she was not jesting.  "You don't remember," he said hopelessly, half to himself.  "Don't you remember working on computers and inventions?  Don't you remember the tree house?  Your parents?  O…our parents?"

            "Maybe you live because you do not know what you are doing or saying," she observed.  "He shows mercy because you are insane."  She shook her head with a trace of pity.  "Fragile, fallible humans…"

            "You were my best sister," he said in desperation, reaching out for her hand.  "Don't you remember when I said that?"

            She pulled away, and he slumped back in the chair.  She offered him more water, regaining her composure.  "Calm down," she ordered him matter-of-factly.  "You are raving."

            He took the cup but did not drink, unable to look away from her.  "It hasn't even been ten years.  How could you have forgotten?"  
            A hand on his shoulder cut the conversation short.  He looked up to see Marco standing grimly over him.  "Don't do that," said the older man.  "It won't help anything.  There's a reason I'm the only contact you've had with either of us since we became Agents."

            "Marco, I –"

            "I don't want to hear anything," he interrupted.  "I have only one question, so don't waste my time."  His hand forcefully on the back of Lyserg's neck, he led him farther back into the truck.  There lay Anna on a cot, unconscious and swathed in careless bandages.  An IV was in her arm, and blood had already stained the white sheets around her.  "Does she know the information I want?" demanded Marco.

            Lyserg bit his lip and paused when he heard the click of a gun's safety turning off.  The muzzle of Marco's revolver was resting nonchalantly against Anna's temple.  "I'm asking," said the Agent with acidic clarity, "if she's of any use."

            Lyserg closed his eyes.  "Yes."

            "Good."  Marco returned the gun to its holster.  "I'll take you to the nearest phone."

            Lyserg looked up.  "You're letting me go?"

            "For now," said Marco, his expression closed.  "You have unfinished work still left to do."

            "More?"

            "Unplug the rest," replied the Agent calmly.  "See that they don't get out; it won't be hard.  They're still on the run, after all."  
            "But…"

            A sharp, stinging pain flared on Lyserg's cheek, his head snapping to the side with the force of Marco's blow.  "Don't question me," said Marco, his eyes still emotionless and cold.

            "Yes, sir."

            "Let's go."

            Jeanne watched them walk down the street until they vanished around a corner.  Confusion seeped into her crimson eyes as something stirred within her.  A whisper escaped her, though she didn't understand the word on her lips.  "Lyserg…"

*

            Kanna grinned slightly as she felt her own ship latch on to the Nebuchadnezzar.  She could finish this in no time at all.  

*

            Hao wandered into the computer room, looking for a chance to surf the net and hack a random helpless site or two.  The place was deserted, but he slid into a chair anyway, glancing at the screens.  

            The ship jolted suddenly, nearly toppling his chair and spilling several papers onto the floor.  He leaned over to pick them up, but some of the words caught his eyes.  It was a printout…of some sort of conversation, it seemed.  Turning back to the computer, he searched back through the data for records of this.

            His eyes narrowed.  Someone had been recording his brother…and…the _Oracle?_

He hadn't been told; something wasn't right.  

*

            "There's a boarded-up store just down the street.  You should be able to get to a phone there," Silva told Manta, speaking into the microphone of his headset as he studied the readouts on the screen.  "Get down there and I'll bring you all back.  No sign of Lyserg yet?  No, I can't track him; I think he dropped his phone somewhere.  Too bad."

            Chrom picked up the other line just as Silva hung up, and his eyes widened.  "It's Lyserg," he told the other man.  He cocked his head to one side, listening to the voice on the other end.  "Kid, you've got some luck on your side.  Got away from the Agents, huh?  Well, let's get you home; hold on a sec…"

            A few more codes entered on the keyboard and Lyserg opened his eyes and sat up.  "All right there?" asked Silva kindly, easing the plug from the back of the youth's head.  

            "Yeah," said Lyserg vaguely.  "I'll be okay."  He couldn't make eye contact.  Instead he surveyed the scene around him.  Faust's life monitors were flat and Anna's were flickering precariously, but the others seemed all right.  

            "Great.  You just hang on there while we get the others."

            Lyserg waited until the other two present in the room had turned back to the task at hand.  He then moved as he had seen so many times in his mind, pulling a gun from where he had hid it just out of sight in an empty disk cabinet.  Then, clutching it in his shaking hands, he walked noiselessly up behind Silva and Chrom, both of whom were still fully focused on the screens, waiting for the others to reach the abandoned store.  It would be so easy just to shoot them, unplug the others, and be done with it.  He looked away, his eyes sweeping over the comatose forms of the rest of the crew, lying vulnerable and fragile amidst the wires.  

            An involuntary shudder gripped Lyserg, and suddenly he was afraid his legs wouldn't support him.  He couldn't kill these people, his surrogate family, perhaps the closest thing he had ever had to a family.  Except for…  He shook his head, pushing the painful thoughts away, even as the harsh tones of Marco's voice echoed in his memory.  How could he kill everyone at the same time that Silva and Chrom were working so hard to save them?  He was no stranger to the pain of betrayal.  To just kill the ones who had accepted him as well as the one who had freed him seemed an unthinkable crime, even if it was to save them from a worse fate.

            Marco had promised long, painful deaths for them otherwise, and Lyserg had never known an Agent to make idle threats.  Elisa, after all, had been a warning, brutally gunned down after Lyserg had failed to hand over the schedules for several major Zion ships' coordinates during a series of crucial days.  The quiet decision had saved lives, but at a painful cost.  Elisa had been murdered in front of Faust and Lyserg.  The incident had been executed so well that it seemed only by chance that the two had escaped, but Lyserg knew better.  It was Marco's terrible way of making sure he knew that defiance would never go unpunished.

            Now Faust was dead too.  Anna was half gone, not to mention in the custody of the Agents, and the others would be hard pressed to leave the matrix.  Lyserg's hands trembled.  They would all end up dead if he knew anything about the way Marco worked; it was only a matter of how.  But for the how to be by his own hands…

            He quietly placed the gun behind a mass of blank disks, just wanting it to be out of sight and mind.  He couldn't do this.

            Still shaking, he turned and rushed from the Core, only to be stopped by the inconvenient end of a plasma gun resting gently against his forehead.  He looked up into Kanna's smirking face, wreathed in smoke from her cigarette.  "Going somewhere?" she asked softly.

To be continued… 

To Macchu-chan:  Hm…I was going to kill Ren next chapter.  I guess I'll have to find someone else now.  ^_~

And if anyone is vaguely interested, I have some random original art up (though I'm not very good…) here: http: //elfwood.lysator.liu.se/zone/d/a/damashi/damashi. html  (You have to remove the spaces after http: and before html.  The URL doesn't show up otherwise.)

Despite the fact that there's a fanart link in the bio, my fanart won't be there for a couple weeks (it takes forever to get stuff up at Elfwood.)  When it finally gets posted, though, I can promise at least a couple Shaman King images so check back later, K?.  ^_~


	14. An Unlikely Savior

*sigh* Writers' block and deadlines.  Not a good combo.  Hontou ni sumimasen.  Sooo sorry.

On the happier side, I actually _am_ alive.  Though, considering how long it's taken me to update, I probably _won't_ be much longer once a few certain people catch up to me.  -_-

            Breathing hard, but relieved, the remaining crew of the Nebuchadnezzar sprinted up to the abandoned store, hearts lifting at the thought of promised relief.  "Silva said they haven't heard from Lyserg," said Ren, shutting his phone.

            "Hope he's all right," said Yoh, watching Horohoro pry an opening in the boards nailed over the store's back door.  

*

            Chrom didn't stand a chance.  The blast caught him high up on the back of the neck, knocking him forward and spattering the keys in front of him with blood.  Silva turned at the sound of the shot, his hand reaching for the closest weapon, but Kanna fired first.  The blast caught him low on the shoulder over the collarbone, and he fell back, lifeless.  

            Lyserg would have cried out but for Kanna's arm hooked securely around his neck, her forearm threatening to crush his throat.  She looked at the fallen bodies before her with grim satisfaction.  "Pathetically easy," she remarked.

            "You killed them," choked out Lyserg, his eyes wide and wild with pain.  "You…"  
            She smiled slightly.  "You make it sound as if you've never seen death before.  Come now, surely a double agent for the machines has watched the people of Zion fall at one point or another."

            His fingers clutched her arm where it encircled his neck, his fingers digging into her skin.  "I'm no traitor!"

            She tapped the top of his head with her gun.  "With those innocent eyes, I'd almost believe you.  But I'm very good at reading the smallest signals from the matrix; you practically reek of Agents."

            "Is that what you came for?" he demanded.  "Me?  Why'd you have to kill Silva and Chrom then?"

            "You're only secondary," came the reply, "to him."

            Lyserg followed her gaze until his eyes came to rest upon Yoh's still form.  "Him?"

*

            "So…um…this is the phone?" asked Yoh.

            They remaining crewmembers were standing around an ancient telephone, sitting on a small, dusty wooden table that looked as if it would crumble if they touched it.  

            "Well…yeah…" said Manta, looking nonplussed.

            "Then why isn't it ringing?"

            Only awkward silence replied.  

            "Are you sure this is the right phone?" queried Horohoro.

            "I sure didn't see any others," replied Ren.  "We checked the entire store."

            "But…it's not ringing…"

            Manta looked at Ren.  "Call Silva."

*

            "That one's special," said Kanna, nodding toward Yoh's body.  "His data signals are almost identical to Hao's."

            "So?"

            "Hao will be the One."

            It all fell together.  "You're knocking off the competition!" exclaimed Lyserg.  "You'll just kill him while he's in the matrix; that's dishonorable!"

            She looked down at him with a curious expression.  "Odd for you to say that, Agent boy."

            He was about to protest when the signal of an incoming call interrupted them.  They paused, their eyes resting simultaneously on the headset lying on the floor.  It had fallen from Silva when he had been shot, but was still working properly.  Kanna's eyes narrowed.  Shoving Lyserg forward, she trained her gun on him.  "Answer it."

*

            The group waited tensely as Ren found himself listening to nothing but ceaseless ringing over the phone.  The feeling that something had gone wrong increased every second, mounting unbearably.  Then his face lightened ever so slightly.  "Silva?"

            A moment of quiet as the other person responded.  His eyes narrowed in slight puzzlement.  "Lyserg??  Silva said they had lost you."

*

            "I made it out," replied Lyserg, realizing the irony of his situation.  Having left the Agents, he was in no better scenario now.  Kanna was listening intently to his every word.

            "Well, why haven't Silva and Chrom brought us back now?" Ren demanded.

            "They…can't," replied Lyserg cautiously.  How much would Kanna let him say?

            "What??  No games, Lyserg."

            "No game," he answered softly.  

*

            Ren was momentarily distracted by a choked scream from Pilica.  He whirled around to find the girl kneeling next to something on the floor.  It was Horohoro.  "What happened?" he demanded.

            "I…I don't know," said Pilica, her hands over her mouth.  "He just…fell…  He…" Ren knelt too, his golden eyes cold as he placed two fingers on the boy's neck, feeling for a pulse.

            "He's dead."

*

            Lyserg heard the scream through the earphones and whirled around.  Kanna was standing by Horohoro's comatose form, his plug in her hand.  She dropped it with a cool indifference.  "One down."  She glanced at Lyserg's horrified expression with slight disapproval.  "What?  You thought I'd leave the crew to come after me?"

            He was trembling, shaking so much that for a moment he thought he wouldn't be able to stand.  "What's going on?" demanded Ren through the headset, his voice sharp and harsh, the beginnings of fear in his words.

*

            The voice that answered Ren's query was new and unfamiliar.  "Nothing much is going on.  And it will be over soon, don't worry."

            Ren clenched his teeth, measuring out the words to keep his voice from shaking.  "Who are you?"  
            "Name's Kanna," she replied, nonchalantly, "but I don't suppose it would mean anything to you.  I've only met you all once.  Hao made the introductions."

            "Hao?" Ren spat the name like a curse.  "I should have known.  You're here to steal Yoh away for him, aren't you?"  
            Manta was watching him closely, and Pilica, though crying softly next to her brother's still-warm body, was also listening.  

            "Actually, no," replied Kanna, "I'm just here to kill you all.  Yoh too, really; he might get in the way later on.  Not to mention your little traitor for the Agents here."

            Lyserg clenched his teeth at her comment, watching his delicately balanced world crumble before his eyes.

            "What are you talking about?" snapped Ren.   "There are no traitors among us."

            "Lyserg and I know better," said Kanna calmly, watching impassively as the boy in front of her clenched his fists helplessly.  She was still the one holding the gun, after all.  "Lend a hand, will you?"

            Her fingers curled about his, forcing his grip around the plug in the back of Pilica's head, the barrel of the gun pressed into the side of his neck to prevent him from resisting.  She jerked down sharply, and Lyserg felt the cable slide from its place, still clutched in his grasp.

*

            Ren whirled about in time to see Pilica give a small gasp and slump forward over her brother's corpse.  A storm of furious profanities gathered within him, poised to pour violently from his lips in his anger and bewilderment.  But all that came out was a whisper, painful and cold.  "I'll kill you."

            Her answer was a laugh, mocking and harsh to the ears.  "Try it the other way around," she suggested.  "You don't stand a chance."  She paused, and he could imagine her surveying the bloodless carnage before her, admiring the control-room turned abattoir.   "But," she continued suddenly, "to business.  _You're not my priority.  That one – Yoh, was it? – is."  _

            Ren's eyes flashed to Yoh's pale face, watching him intently.  The youth's countenance tightened, as if he could feel the grip tightening around his lifeline, ready to yank it out.  

*

            Lyserg closed his eyes, turning his head away as Kanna forced his hand toward Yoh's cord.  _At least, he couldn't help but think, __Marco will be happy…and maybe Jeanne too, then.  As little comfort as the idea was, he clung to it, wanting something to distract him from the imminent death that loomed before his remaining friends and himself.  _

            "KANNA!" 

            Lyserg and the person in question both whirled around to see Hao rush into the room, his hair flying wildly behind him, a mixture of shock and fury blazing in his usually unperturbed eyes.  

            "What are you doing??"  His eyes swept over the scattered and unplugged cords on the floor, his gaze growing ever harder.  

            She sighed, the barrel of her gun now aimed casually at him, though her finger was not on the trigger.  "Perhaps I seem out of line, but this is not of your concern." 

            His gaze did not waver.  "You will _not touch my brother."_

            "I clear a path for you, for you to free humans from the machines.  Clearing a path means eliminating obstacles."

            He caught her grip tightening on the plug.  "You will not touch my brother."

            His adamant, quiet anger was unnerving.  She shifted her stance slightly, her eyes fighting to match his gaze.  "These here would oppose you one day.  I know many of them, and they would not accept your conquest of the machines."

            "Too tenderhearted?" he asked contemptuously.  "I don't care for them, but my brother is still my brother.  Come, Kanna, you have ill timing."

            Her eyes narrowed, but she seemed almost ready to obey.  He turned once to see if she would come, just in time to see her look back blankly at him, lurching forward as a blast from behind tore through her and out her chest.  Unflinching, despite the splash of hot blood on his face and clothes, Hao watched her fall, death written on her face before she hit the floor.  

            Behind her, the gun still held in his shaking hands, was Lyserg.  "My friends…" was all he managed to say, the tears blurring his eyes threateningly.  

            Hao studied him, not fully trusting the youth before him.  "Agent Boy."  That's what Kanna had called him; and he had just killed Kanna.  After a silence, he nodded.  "Your friends.  We should get them back."

*

            Yoh awoke from the matrix nightmare of loss and hostile pursuit and found himself in a reality of blood and emptiness.  Five corpses lay about a room that had been teeming with energy and hard work a matter of hours earlier.  Their first job was to remove the bodies: Chrom, Faust, Horhoro, Pilica, and Kanna.  Silva was still alive, but only barely, and from the look on Ren's face when he helped Yoh to move the man's battered form, there was little real hope.  

            By the looks of it, something had died within Lyserg as well, though he was mostly unscathed.  From the snatches of conversation overheard through the phone, everyone had questions for him, but there were more pressing issues at hand.  

            "The Agents took Anna," said Manta, though everyone knew it already.

            "They what??"  Everyone except Hao, that is.  

            "They've taken her, but she's still alive.  Her vital signs are more stable now; they were flickering before," said Lyserg softly.

            "Why?" demanded Hao, thinking regretfully of the pretty – though not a little intimidating – blond he had attempted to flirt with before.  She had potential use and a strong mind; it would be a pity to just give her up.

            Lyserg was silent, trying not to feel self-conscious at the many eyes now focused on him.  

            "We have no way of knowing," broke in Yoh.  "We don't know the Agents' minds, Oniichan."

            "We don't," concede Hao, "but I believe one _does._"  His gaze turned back to Lyserg, who seemed to shrink back ever so slightly.

            _He knows, just like Kanna did, thought Lyserg with despair.  __It's over.  He closed his eyes, and took a breath.  It would all come out plainly now.  He could hide no longer.  A flash of hatred against the long-haired twin shot through him, but there was nothing he could do.  _

            "You gave her to Them," said Hao, his voice dangerously calm and light.  Lyserg could feel his eyes boring into him unwaveringly, even when their gazes did not meet.  

            Only an uneasy silence answered his accusation.  "Hao," said Yoh quietly, Lyserg's just happened to get to a phone before the rest of us.  It's not his fault that any of this happened."

            "No," said Lyserg, his voice only just audible, "it's not a coincidence."

            Another moment of quiet.

            "It's not," agreed Manta, a moment later.  "But neither is Lyserg a traitor."  In an instant, all gazes were turned toward him.  "He came from a peaceful foster family in the matrix when his brother and sister became Agents.  Keep in mind that it was his choice."

            "As was his decision to give Anna to his siblings," added Hao in the same merciless tone.

            "To save your brother!" burst out Lyserg.  "It was one or the other; I had no choice!"  He paused, swallowing.  "Marco…he wants you all dead."  

            Ren frowned.  "But Anna's alive," he pointed out.  "Why?"

            "Codes," said Lyserg quietly.  "He would have shot her after capture, but I told him she knows the codes to hack Zion.  She'll probably be terminated after Marco finds out I lied to buy more time."

            "But you didn't," interrupted Manta, suddenly pale.  "Usually only high officers and ship captains know the codes, but Anna was an exception.  Despite a lack of rank in name, she has enough influence to know a lot more than you'd expect.  In fact, if it's codes and passwords they want, she probably knows more than me."

            Lyserg's expression changed abruptly from painful blankness to utter horror.  

            "We'll have no choice but to unplug her ourselves," said Ren, his eyes hard at the idea of the decision.  "We can't let them pry the codes from her."  
            "Lyserg can do that," said Hao with a mock joviality that sent a sharp pang through the boy.  

            "I suppose that may be unavoidable," said Morpheus heavily, "though I am reluctant to do so."

            "So I'll get her back," said Hao casually, startling everyone else.

            "How do you propose to do that?" asked Ren, a touch of bitterness in his voice.  "You'd have to take her directly from the Agents, and I highly doubt that you'd even get within three kilometers of the place where they're holding her."

            Hao simply smiled.  "You underestimate me."

            "I'll go too," said Manta gravely.  "I cannot let you risk your life for one of my crewmembers on your own."

            "You'll die!" protested Ren.

            "I would not refuse a companion," said Hao, ignoring the outburst.

            Manta nodded.  

            _You'll have to make a choice eventually, between you and Morpheus.  One of you is going to die.  Yoh jumped, startled, and looked around for the source of the voice.  No one else seemed to have heard it.  _

            "I'll go instead," he heard yet another voice say, and then realized it was his.  "You stay here and help run the ship, Manta."

            The other youth looked surprised.  "You have significantly fewer ties to Anna, Yoh-kun.  I cannot control the member of another crew, but I cannot let you go."

            "I have to," said Yoh simply.  "I'm quite sure the Oracle said something about this."

            Manta said nothing, but Yoh could see the understanding in his eyes.

            Hao nodded, a small smile of approval on his lips.  "Well then, it'll be the brothers going."  He walked over to one of the chairs and sat down, flipping his long hair over the back so that his plug could be accessed.  "I've had enough waiting."

_To be continued…_

To VASH THE STAMPEDE: I don't think Ren will die, sorry.  ^_^  And, out of curiosity, since when did you want anyone to die?  What happened to Rem's influence?


	15. Brotherly Discussions

O_O  Two updates in one month!!  (sad, sad)  Ah well, I'm still really busy, but I also really want to finish this.  *rrgh*

To da*mouse:  *bows* Gomen nasai.  I shall try not to kill as many people from now on.  And don't worry, we'll get another YoNa moment or two…just not quite yet.  

To Kaori: ^___^  Thanks.  And is that your gorgeous artwork up at Shamanistic Manjien?

            They did not enter the matrix right away, as Yoh had expected, but found themselves in the eternal blankness of the Construct.  Ren's voice, echoing about them like the speech of some irritable divine being, informed them that he thought they needed some sort of weapons.  The brothers sensed a click of sorts, the feeling of a new program being accessed, and suddenly, they found themselves surrounded by a selection of combat tools that spanned the entire Construct.  

            Yoh gaped for a moment at the rack of firearms that had appeared before him, and then turned around to see Hao carefully examining a display box of twelve-pointed throwing stars.  "We can take _anything??"_

            "Yes, anything," replied the Voice of Ren, the sharpness of his tone trying to cover the strain the day's events had had on him.  Yoh could almost hear him clench his teeth as Hao nonchalantly tossed the box of shuriken over his shoulder, scattering the sharp objects around his feet.  

            "How am I supposed to choose?" asked Yoh, feeling bewildered.  "There are so many choices – is that a Zulu spear??"

            "I would suggest guns, if I might," said the Voice of Ren.  "The longer range on them would probably be the most useful."

            "No it wouldn't," said Hao brightly.  "Not against the Agents."

            "Not all your adversaries will _be_ Agents.  Besides, I really don't think you want to engage in hand-to-hand combat with anyone, Jeanne or Marco especially.  Not after how Anna faired," argued Ren.

            Hao shrugged.  "You've got a point, I suppose.  Though Agents can be frightfully amusing during a fight, you know."

            "You're insane," said Ren, a scowl obvious in his voice.

            "Oniichan," said Yoh, examining a Glock, "which of these is best?"

            Hao picked up a few shuriken and tossed them experimentally at a rack of archery equipment.  "Just take whatever looks coolest."

            "Well, what are you taking?"

            Hao paused, and then picked out a single .45.  "There.  That's what I'm taking."

            "I would advise you take a little more in terms of weaponry," said the Voice of Ren in a steely tone.  

            "Ah, but you are forgetting something."

            "And what is that?"

            "That I'm Asakura Hao.  I have more than a few tricks up my sleeve.  Good hackers always do."

            "Something that could beat the Agents?" asked Yoh.

            Hao shrugged.  "I've been playing with manipulating data."  He brushed the air in front of him, making it warp oddly.

            Yoh stared.  "How…how did you do that?"

            "Bending data to my will.  I've always been able to do it, really.  And that's not the least of it.  Watch."  He snapped his fingers, and a blue flame appeared at the tips, flickering and blazingly hot.  Then, with a flick of his wrist, he sent the fire speeding toward the closest supply rack.  Fortunately, it was only a stand of kwan-daos, and not an ammunition supply, thought Yoh as he watched everything disintegrate in flames.  

            "Could you _not destroy other people's programs??" snapped Ren, seemingly irritated by the destruction of the kwan-daos._

            "It's completely repairable," reassured Hao.  "Don't worry.  So, Otouto, what are you taking?"

            Yoh hefted a pair of Desert Eagles, and nodded.  "These, I guess, and…" His eyes swept his surroundings once again.  "I'd like a good blade."

            "A silver one for the heart of the female Agent?" jested Hao.

            "That's not funny, Oniichan," said Yoh, studying a gorgeous _daisho_, a pair of samurai swords.

            Hao walked over to look too.  "You know," he said, "the _katana_ would be too long to wield properly, especially if we're going to be in tight spaces.  If you really want a blade, try this."  He picked up the _wakizashi, the shorter of the pair, and handed it to his brother.  "Sure you don't want more weaponry?  You can't throw fire, can you?"_

            "No, I can't," said Yoh with a shake of his head.  "Anna never uploaded that one for me."

            "I wouldn't expect so.  I wrote the program for it within myself.  As far as I know, no one else has ever done that."

            "No one _has written a program within themselves," said Ren.  "I don't see how it's possible."_

            "I guess that makes me something of a freak, eh?" asked Hao, sounding rather flattered.  

            Ren paused, and Yoh could sense him scowl, but he gave no retort.  "I'm putting you guys in the matrix now."

            "I guess this means I'll be doing most of the fighting, huh, Yoh?" asked Hao.

            Yoh nodded.  "I'm…eh, not very good at it."

            "Oh, really?  Who have you fought?"

            "Erm…not too many people.  Manta…and…and Anna."

            Hao suppressed a snicker.  "And me.  We were five and you stole my orange.  I kicked your—"

            The rest of his words were lost as the construct vanished around them and they plunged into the matrix with a peculiar sense of falling.  

*

            They entered in the back of a drab, empty alley that opened on one end into a relatively busy street.  Yoh started toward it, but Hao put a hand on his shoulder, holding him back.  "Wait a minute, will you?" he asked.  "We have time."

            "But…Anna…," protested Yoh.

            Hao dismissed the objection with a wave of his hands.  "A few minutes won't make much difference.  I need to talk to you."

            "Oh.  Okay.  About what?"

            "Well, you saw the Oracle, right?  And she told you…."

            "Oh.  That," said Yoh.  "She said that I wasn't the One; that you are."

            Hao blinked, and then scrutinized his brother's face.  "She did?"

            Yoh nodded.  "She said she'd met you before.  Isn't that what she told you?"  
            "You doubt the words of the Oracle?"

            Yoh frowned; his brother was avoiding the question.  But then he thought of Anna, and the time they were wasting, and didn't push the subject.  "I've heard the Oracle is never wrong.  Is that all you wanted to talk about?"

            "Well, one more thing," said Hao, regaining his composure.  "If you were, by any slim chance, to actually turn out to be the One, how would you propose to free humanity?"

            Yoh thought about that.  "I…I don't know, really."

            Hao nodded.  "Hadn't given it any thought, ne?  Just like you used to do with your homework projects back in middle school."

            "And I suppose _you've_ thought about it?" asked Yoh, slightly put out by the reference to his lazy schooldays.  

            "I have," replied Hao.  "Indeed, it's really quite simple.  We'd follow the pattern our ancestors tried to use to defeat the machines."

            Yoh's brow creased.  He should have been paying more attention when Manta was giving his history lesson.  "We…uh…"

            "We'd take away their energy source."

            Yoh looked startled.  "That didn't work last time.  And their energy source now is…."  He broke off, an expression of disbelief on his face.  "Their energy source is humans."

            "So?"  Hao leaned back against the wall behind him with a look of indifference.  "It's not like we're forcing the entire species of _Homo sapiens_ into extinction.  Only the ones plugged into the matrix."

            "There's an estimated six billion minds in there, Niichan!" said Yoh, his voice quavering momentarily in disbelief.  

            "Yeah, well, the machines are stupid.  They keep all the humans in huge, clustered spaces to harvest the energy.  I'm sure you saw it when you first awoke.  All anyone would need would be to unleash several large, well-placed EMPs to wipe out their entire energy source."

            "But…I mean…that many _people_…."

            Hao's face darkened.  "Slaves.  Mindless slaves to the machines; that's all they are.  Haven't you been taught anything?  Most of them are so attached, we could never hope to free them; many would fight against us side by side with the Agents.  And haven't you seen what they've done even to this virtual world?  It's filthy, irreparably tainted.  Scum.  I would not mourn for them."

            "We were once part of them," said Yoh quietly.  "Had the One come before, and not been you, we would have been killed.  What about the many others that haven't been freed yet?  Doesn't that bother you?"  
            "No," said Hao, with a quick glance at his brother.  There was a frightening frankness in his voice.  "It matters little to me.  It will be a purge, and one the world has sorely needed for a long time."

            Yoh's eyes scanned his surroundings, skimming over anything but Hao.  "What about…mother?  We still have family in the matrix."

            A spasm of brief, vague emotion flickered across Hao's face and was gone.  "There is nothing I can do for them.  Even family can pose a threat in this situation.  Being the One does not mean that you will not have to make sacrifices."

            "So, had I not been freed, you would have even killed me?" asked Yoh, his voice soft.

            Hao straightened and walked toward the street end of the alley, silent.  Yoh followed his brother's footsteps, running slightly to catch up.  Hao stopped for a moment to let the distance between them lessen.  "I would have," he affirmed quietly, not looking at his brother, and then stepped into the bustle of the street before him.

*

            They stopped in front of a large, intimidating government building that loomed over them, glaring down mercilessly.  Somewhere in there, Yoh knew, was Anna.  He had no idea of her state, whether she was dying or stable, in pain or blissfully unconscious.  

            Hao did not even hesitate at the door, but strode in with a cocky confidence radiating from his entire being.  Security was surprisingly low; Yoh supposed the Agents didn't want to call attention to the place.  A couple of lazy-looking security guards sat idly by; one at a desk and the other in a nearby folding chair.

            "ID?" drawled the man behind the desk, one hand on a half-full cup of coffee.

            "Not needed," replied Hao, gliding past with almost noiseless footfalls.  

            "'ey," protested the man, "you can't just do that.  You need to…"  He stopped as the metal detector Hao had just passed under let out a shrill beeping sound.  "Stop right there!"  

            "Sorry," said Yoh quietly from behind.  There was a thud, and the guard fell forward unconscious, knocked out by the handle of the youth's _wakizashi.  _

            He ducked as a shot from the other guard's gun shattered the glass window behind him.  There was a short cry, and then silence; no more shots sounded.  Chancing a peek, he saw Hao waiting impatiently for him to hurry up, the second guard at his feet with a twelve-pointed shuriken half buried neatly in the middle of his forehead.  "Well?  Come on, then!"

            Yoh stared at the corpse, at the warm blood streaming from the wound.  "Did you have to kill him?"

            "It's safer," said Hao matter-of-factly.  "You killed yours, didn't you?"

            "N…no.  He's only unconscious."  

            "Then hurry," said Hao impatiently.  "We haven't got all day."

            Yoh paused.  "He's unconscious.  What can he do?"

            "Wake up and call for backup, that's what," snapped Hao.  "Are you going to kill him or not?"

            "No," said Yoh quietly.

            "Fine," said Hao, hiding poorly the disgust in his voice.  He raised his hand in one sharp motion, and Yoh saw the air warp like he had seen it do once before.  The man on the ground shuddered, his face paling suddenly, and Hao dropped his hand.  "He won't survive internal damage like that," he said with slight satisfaction.  "It's silly, how all the data has to be so organized when one is in the matrix.  Even the slightest bit of error or abnormality can cause extreme damage."

            Yoh said nothing, but averted his gaze.

            Hao gave a brief nod and turned on his heel, sweeping past the two corpses.  His brother followed, trying not to pay attention to the still shapes, but a nagging thought occurred to him.  "Niichan," he said quietly, "I thought you said you were only taking that one gun.  Where did the shuriken come from?"

            "I found it in my pocket," said Hao with nonchalance.  "Only one, but it must have fallen in when I tossed the box.  I thought I'd try using it."

            "Oh," said Yoh, hurrying to catch up with his brother.  

            They found the lobby elevator, and Yoh pushed the up button before standing back to wait beside Hao.  "I'll go first."

            "Eh?" Yoh looked at his brother.

            "I'll take this elevator, you wait for a little while, and then you come up.  Since you can't fight – much – I'll be the diversion, take on the Agents, and you go find the girl.  She's on the fourteenth floor, according to the data Ren uploaded for us."  He paused.  "You planned that, didn't you?"  
            Yoh blinked at the tone of accusation.  "Planned what?"

            "You planned out how I would do the fighting while you heroically bore the damsel in distress to safety…with the opportunity to be alone for a while."

            Yoh could feel his face growing hot; what was Hao getting jealous for anyway?  "I didn't!" he protested.  "I just haven't had as much time to learn things as you have!"

            _Ding!_

            "Elevator's here.  See you around, little brother of mine."

            The doors slid neatly shut and took Hao away, leaving Yoh alone in the suddenly very large lobby.  

*

            Hao leaned on the railing in the back of the elevator, his eyes closed as the floors went by.  Soft, wordless, nonsensical music burbled in the background, benign and innocent.  

            The elevator slowed and Hao opened his eyes, a quiet smile flickering across his face.  The Agents were waiting.

*

            Yoh bounced ever so slightly in place, watching the numbers above the elevator doors light up sequentially.  Why was this making him so nervous?  Hao would be doing the fighting, not him, and he hardly doubted his brother's abilities.  

            11…12…14…

            Hao was on the 14th floor now; Yoh hit the "up" button once again and then cocked his head, wondering why buildings regularly skipped the 13th floor.  Not that it mattered much.

*

            The elevator doors opened into an empty and very normal-looking hallway.  Hao stepped out into it, casually glancing both ways, mentally reaching out for the data patterns that signaled the presence of Agents.  After a moment of motionlessness, he turned left and strode off.

*

            "She knows a lot," reported Jeanne matter-of-factly.  "Probably more than we had expected."

            "Good," said Marco, glancing about the pristine conference room.  "Lyserg did well…for once."

            Jeanne's eyes narrowed slightly for a moment as something stirred in the back of her mind.  "Lyserg…who was he?  Why do I feel like I know him?"  _Why do I feel like I…like I…what _is_ this feeling?_

            Marco shrugged.  "All humans are alike, Agent-sama.  Don't concern yourself over them; we have more important things to attend to, more pressing issues."  He hadn't made eye contact during that small speech.

            She nodded, looking away as well so that he wouldn't see the doubt in her face.  "We must find a way to extract the codes from our captive; she seems not to be very fond of talking."

            "I'm not worried about that," said Marco, sitting down on the nearest cushioned chair.  "We have plenty of interrogation techniques.  She'll hold out less than twenty-four hours if I have anything to do with it."

            "Just to warn you, between us guys," put in Hao, plopping down on the chair next to Marco and putting his feet up on the conference table, "she's got a mean slap if you try hitting on her."

            In an instant, the barrel of Marco's gun was jammed against the side of Hao's head.  "Who are you?" he demanded.  "How did you get in here?"

            Hao grinned and pushed the gun away, fully in his element now.  "Don't you know me?"

            "I don't," answered Jeanne for the two of them, her own gun prodding the other side of Hao's head.  "You have no business to be here."

            "But Jeanne-chan," Hao said, mock-hurt in his voice, "how can you not remember me?  Just because I was dead doesn't mean you can go forgetting _me_."  He shrugged.  "Of course, you yourself were not an Agent at the time, but I'm sure the data has transmitted enough memory for you to at least recognize me."

            "Address her as Agent-sama or Holy Agent Jeanne," growled Marco through gritted teeth, his gun finding its way back to Hao's temple.

            "You don't remember me, _either_, Marco?" asked Hao plaintively, leaning back in his chair.  "Agents these days, they don't make them like they used to!"

            "It's not wise to mock something that could kill you at the blink of an eye," advised Jeanne calmly.  

            Marco frowned.  "I know you.  Hao."

            Jeanne started for a moment, the transmitted data of the Agents rearranging itself in her mind.  The enemy from a few generations ago, the one who had defied the system and begun the rebellion…this was he.  

            Hao grinned and clapped his hands together.  "So you _do remember me!  Excellent!  There's no fun in having brainless opponents."_

            "We aren't the Agents you knew and fought back then," replied Marco, irritation building in his voice.  "Things are different; we are stronger.  You don't stand a chance."

            "But," said Hao thoughtfully, cocking his head, "you see, I'm much stronger too." In an instant, he had kicked back the conference table and ducked out of the way in one fluid motion.  

            The Agents' guns fired simultaneously, and two bullet holes appeared in the opposing walls.  

            "Weak," chided Hao, now standing by the door.  "Just pitiful."  He wrenched the handle and disappeared into the hall.

            Wordlessly, swiftly, the Agents followed; Hao had just declared war.

_To be continued…_


	16. Women Are Nothing But Trouble

This fic is not dead, I promise!  It hasn't been so much writers block in the way as that I've been working on an AU HaoxAnnaxYoh triangle that will never be posted.  -_-  It's based on the fangirls' speculation that Hana might be Hao's son, and not Yoh's.  I have the whole story except for the end; I don't know who Anna should end up with.  Logic says Yoh, but I personally prefer the dynamics that have developed between her and Hao.  *sigh*  Maybe I'll make her run off with Ren and be done with it.

And, Kaori: I am much displeased that you cleaned out your DeviantArt account – most of my favorite pictures are gone (though Hao meets llama is safely saved on my computer.  ^__^)

            Yoh frowned, slightly annoyed with himself.  Figures he would, at the crucial moment, allow his hand to slip and accidentally hit the button for the twelfth floor.  So now, the elevator would have to make an _extra_ stop and it would be that much longer before he could get to where he was supposed to be.  But there was nothing to be done; and he merely stood in the middle of the elevator, hoping he wouldn't botch up something bigger and more important.  Especially not in front of Anna.

            He started and involuntarily glanced around.  Where had _that_ thought come from?  Slapping himself mentally, he straightened.  _C'mon, Yoh_, muttered inwardly to himself.  _No one's here, no one's listening, and it's not like Anna can read hearts.  Just chill.  _

            The elevator slowed, the doors opening to reveal a bland hallway decorated in pastel blues.  Yoh pushed the "close door" button immediately, wondering how Hao was faring with the Agents and if he would serve as a proper diversion.  Knowing his brother, of course, there probably wasn't much to worry about.

            The elevator opened on the next floor to a nearly identical hallway – except for the fact that the wall was perforated with bullet holes and burned in several places.  Apparently, Hao had had no trouble irritating the Agents.

            With slight trepidation, Yoh stepped into the hall, glancing cautiously to either side.  The passage seemed to extend on almost infinitely in both directions, and for a moment, he despaired of ever finding Anna's room.  _What can I do?  Hao can't keep the Agents away forever; I need to find her quickly.  What should I do?  What would…what would Hao do?  _Manipulating data…that's what Hao did.  

            So, feeling awkward and wondering if this seemed like something pulled straight out of a shoujo manga, he paused, concentrating, remembering the feeling he had experienced when he tried to break Mosuke's sword.  The data could tell him everything he wanted to know if he approached it correctly, he was sure of that.  It was only a matter of how….

            From his left came a faint whisper of a feeling, a gasp of pain and despair, the anger of hopeless desperation.  Turning, he followed the feeling that tugged at him; trying not to think of what might happen if it were a trick of the Agents.  

*

            The door was locked when Yoh reached it, though he was positive this was where his instincts told him to come.  Both hands wrapped around the handle, he put one foot against the wall and pulled, straining (though he was perfectly aware of how ridiculous he looked.)  It was no use.  

            Bending down, he shut one eye and squinted with the other into the keyhole, trying to have a look at the mechanisms inside.  This too proved fruitless, though he hadn't really expected it to do much in the first place.  Frustrated, he kicked at it half-heartedly and slumped back with a breath of annoyance that fluttered his bangs.  "Pleeeeeease," he groaned, annoyed enough to talk to a door.  He grabbed the handle again and tried to make it move.  _I need to get it.  I _have _to get to Anna…_   

            The handle gave way suddenly and the door flew open, sending Yoh sprawling across the floor.  He scrambled to his feet in the darkness, oddly disoriented.  Placing his hand on the wall, he felt about until his fingers hit the light switch and filled the room with a weak illumination.  The place was empty except for a small table and a hospital bed in one corner.  Someone was lying there, covered in crisp white sheets, a few strands of golden hair draped over the edge of the pillow.  

            "Anna?" he whispered softly, not fully trusting his senses.  

            There was no reply.

            He walked slowly towards the bed, but paused, his eyes on the nearby table.  On it lay a small bottle and a used hypodermic needle.  He bit his lip, glancing back at the still form on the bed; what was it they had given her?  The liquid in the IV bag looked similar in color to the contents of the bottle on the table, too; her face – he could see it now as he approached – was frighteningly pale, a bluish tinge on her lips, and her eyes slightly open with only the white showing.  She was alive; he could see the rise and fall of her chest, but it was a mockery of life and the vibrancy he had seen in her not so long ago.  

            On a flash of impulse, he seized the IV needle and slid it from her arm.  She flinched involuntarily, and a small trickle of blood issued from the break in the skin, but no sudden, dire consequences followed his action.  On the contrary, he thought he saw a little color return to her face, though that easily could have been deception on the part of his hopeful eyes.  

            Now was the matter of getting her away from this place.

*

            Hao raced around the corner; the Agents were gaining on him, and had thus far avoided serious damage from his flame-throwing tricks.  He wasn't really worried, of course.  They were still clueless when it came to his biggest advantage, and he was hardly feeling pressed badly enough to need it.  Their pure irritation was enough entertainment; he could see it sparking in Marco's eyes and in the way Jeanne's face hardened every time he looked back at them (just right so that his hair flipped and swooshed like a shampoo commercial, too.)  He almost wished Anna were there to see it all; how could she fail to fall for him then?

            He darted into the elevator to add a bit of a twist to the chase, and then shook his head as the doors closed, making a semi-rude gesture at the Agents (who were a little too late) for good measure.  A bullet sped through the metal as he lost sight of them, but did not come even close to its target, much to Hao's satisfaction.  He grinned, casually examining the hole it had left in the back wall and humming along with the elevator music.  Silly Agents; he had missed this, having been dead for a while.  The machines had gotten terribly cocky with him gone and all.  

            But they would have to wait for the elevator to come back to their level before they could continue chasing him.  Knowing how persistent they were, especially when it came to catching some object of irritation, he estimated this would keep them occupied more than long enough for Yoh to do a proper job of getting Anna to safety.  Hao paused and rethought that.  One could never really know, of course, when it came to little brothers; they had a way of doing the stupidest and most unexpected things.  He certainly hoped that wouldn't be the case this time.  

            The elevator doors slid noiselessly open at the lobby level as Hao gave a small sigh, thinking about his brother.  Yoh would probably get into trouble before this was even close to over.  

            And then he did a double take as found himself face to face with Marco and Jeanne, neither Agent looking remotely amused.  In an instant, his hand flew for the "close-door" button, even as Jeanne rushed towards him, Marco right behind.  She made it through the metal doors just as they closed, but her companion was a little too slow.

            In an instant, Hao and Jeanne found themselves together in the suddenly claustrophobic space of the elevator.  Fire in her eyes, Jeanne sprang toward him as they began their ascent, but jerked backward again with a look of faint surprise.  True, she had managed to make it through the doors before they closed, but not all of her long, silvery hair had.

            Hao stood, leaning on the railing, a faint grin on his face as he shook his head.  "Tsk.  Overly long hair is terribly impractical, don't you think, Jeanne dearest?"

            She bristled at the mock-endearment.  "Don't you talk, Asakura Hao!"  In an instant, she had slid a small knife from its concealed hiding place at her side and slashed through the impeding tresses, freeing herself before Hao even had time to come up with a clever retort.  The next moment, she had flung the blade at him; it stuck in the wall just centimeters away from his left ear.  Following the knife a split second later, she whipped a fist at him.

            He blocked it with carefree ease, his grin widening.  "Well now, I guess it's just you and me, ne?"

            She frowned, bombarding him with a volley of blows, each of which he deftly parried.  "You've nowhere to run.  This is how you'll die."

            He almost laughed, catching her wrist and flicking her arm away.  "I think not.  You Agents failed to kill me before."

            She bared her clenched teeth in frustration, sweeping at his ankles with one booted foot.  "I can remedy that."  He sidestepped neatly and sent a swift punch just past the side of her head.  

            "Can you?  This place is greatly limiting to your skills.  There's very little room, meaning you can't vary your attacks as much.  And you're on the offensive; I just have the basic defensive blocking and such to reach my goal – namely staying alive.  You're at a supreme disadvantage."

            She gave no reply, but whipped out her handgun, shoving it suddenly against his forehead, forcing him back against the elevator wall.  "Don't mock me."

            He crossed his eyes slightly, studying the muzzle pressed above his eyebrows.  "I'm not, Jeanne-chan.  I'm merely stating the facts.  And, you know, I haven't drawn my guns, so it's not very sporting that you should be using yours."

            A trace of a smirk flickered over her face and was gone.  "And what are you going to do about that?"

            In an instant, his hands had wrapped around her wrists, forcing her to drop the gun, and pushing her against the adjacent wall.  Nearly nose to nose, his chest daringly close to hers, he allowed a triumphant smile to cross his features.  "I'll fight dirty, that's what I'll do, especially if it's with a pretty little Agent."  He couldn't miss the furious shade of red that flared in her face despite her unaffected expression

            "Get your filthy rebel hands off of me," she ordered, only the slightest hint of a tremble shaking her calm voice.

            He remained as he was, his fingers tightening ever so slightly around her lily-white wrists.  He inhaled, relishing in her frustration. She had an odd scent: untainted and overly-sterilized, reminiscent of a hospital.  "I don't intend to move," he murmured, putting his mouth purposely close to her ear; he could feel the heat from her face.  "So what are you planning to do about _that_?"

            She moved swiftly and without warning, bringing her knee sharply up between his legs, taking advantage of how very close he was.  He moved only just in time to avoid what could have easily been a disastrous and most definitely painful blow.  "I'll aim below the belt," she shot back through gritted teeth.  "Agents can fight dirty too."

            He looked at her with mild surprise, careful not to show that he was aware of how close he had come to falling prey to a humiliating attack.  "I never would have guessed.  And from a sweet little thing like you…."

            She did not reply, but lunged for the button panel by the door, trying to stop and perhaps leave a chance open for Marco to back her up.  He blocked her way, pressing the emergency stop button instead.  She glared and stepped back, calculating her next move.  "Marco will kill you for this."

            He couldn't hold back a smile as he felt their ascent cease.  "I thought _you_ were going to."

            She snatched up her gun from where it lay on the floor and pressed the muzzle against his throat, squeezing the trigger before he had time to move.

*

            The first obstacle, Yoh found, was the handcuffs.  One end was secured around Anna's right wrist, and the other was linked to the railing of the cot, with the key nowhere in sight.  He stood bewildered for a moment, completely unsure of what to do, then tugged halfheartedly at the links between the cuffs – an action that had absolutely no effect.  He looked about for something to try to pry the links of the connecting chain open, or something to saw at them with.  Finding nothing, he again pulled at the handcuffs, this time a bit harder, still feeling somewhat foolish.  He had come so far already, found Anna while Hao was risking life and limb for their sake, and now Yoh found him stopped by a ridiculously simple pair of handcuffs.  There had to be some way to get around this…like there had been with the door.

            He gripped the cuff around Anna's wrist once more and pulled with all he had.  _Come on…come on…break…_

            A single link snapped, but it was all he needed.  Caught off balance, however, he tumbled backward with a small noise of surprise, nearly dragging Anna with him.  Almost falling from her cot, she still did not open her eyes, though her fingers twitched ever so slightly.  

            He stood up hurriedly, brushing himself off, laughing uneasily at himself.  Inanimate objects were obeying his unvoiced pleas; he wasn't sure whether to be impressed or profoundly worried.  This was not, however, the time to ponder such mysteries, but time to figure out how to get Anna away from this place and the Agents.  

            He sighed, again at a loss as what to do.  Anna certainly was not going to be walking away on her own, which left him with the job of moving her.  He eyed her limp form with reservation; it was as simple as sweeping her up in his arms and carrying her off, but he was quite sure she would make sure he faced utterly dire consequences if she woke up in his arms.  

            An involuntary shiver ran suddenly through Yoh, pulling his mind away from her.  For some reason, it seemed that things had been too quiet for too long.  Anna had still not moved, but he could not shake the feeling that he needed to get out as quickly as possible.  

            Pushing his small apprehensions aside, he gathered the limp young woman in his arms and burst out the door, hoping he could remember the way out of the building.

_To be continued…_


	17. Out the Window

My muses have grown tired of this story. -- As usual, I apologize for the slow update, though I still plan to work on this until it's done or I drop dead. Whichever comes first.

---

_Click!_

Hao grinned at Jeanne's startled expression when she failed to blow a sizeable hole through his throat. "Tsk. That won't work, you know. You need these." He opened his hand to reveal her remaining bullets lying gleaming on his palm. "And, of course, the throat isn't nearly as pretty a target," he admonished, taking advantage of her silence. "If you press the gun to the sternum--" he touched a hand to the middle of his chest "--and shoot, it blows a star-shaped pattern in the skin because the bone is so close to the surface. Ever tried that?"

She made a fruitless swipe for the bullets and he held them high, as if taunting a small child. "No, I haven't," she snapped, glaring. "I usually dispatch any who displease me from a distance."

"Bit cowardly, don't you think?" he inquired, putting a hand to her forehead and pushing her back.

"There is no cowardice among Agents," she stated, straightening herself in an attempt to regain some dignity. "The method is merely effective."

"Is it now?" he mused. "I should think that I would have been dead long ago, back when you and Marco were chasing me through the halls."

"It works on anyone who's not some freak of nature," she spat, trying to keep her cool but failing miserably.

"Harsh," he sighed, putting a hand to his heart with a grin. "But this is starting to seem a waste of time, is it not?"

"For once it seems that we agree on something," she said with cold, sarcastic surprise.

"Then shall we end this quickly?"

"You may as well lie down and die, in that case," she retorted.

"Oh?"

"Fool. We're data. Data doesn't die; humans do. It's the inevitable result that comes when a mortal is foolish enough to challenge a god."

"A god?" he repeated. "Far from it. Gods know everything, Jeanne."

"You can't hide--" she began, and broke off into a horrible silence. Hao had placed one hand forcefully on her, just below her throat, his fingers over her collarbone, pressing back. Her hands flew to his wrist to push away his violating touch, but those too stopped mid-motion. Something was terribly wrong. It was written everywhere, from the unpleasant smirk on Hao's face to the sudden wrenching pain within her.

She knew in an instant what was happening, could feel the data that made her very being falling out of order, scrambling painfully and destructively. Her memory flashed back to the time a Zion hacker had loosed a destructive virus on the matrix; she had been the only Agent attacked (though there had been few) who had not been forced to return to the system for reprogramming, leaving her with memories of the agony and terror. They had quickly tracked down and eliminated the hacker.

It was happening all over again, and for a moment, she was no more than a young human girl, just recently become an Agent, still new and naïve in the face of the horrors that came with the job. She turned her widened garnet eyes up to Hao's as he stared mercilessly back down at her. He had been right, she realized with a flash of hatred. There was one vital thing that the Agents – that she – hadn't known: she hadn't known he could do this, and it had brought on terrible consequences.

Her thing frame convulsed, and she retched involuntarily, blood rising in her mouth and streaming down her chin in a small rivulet to splatter on the back of Hao's hand. He watched silently as it trickled to his wrist and dripped onto the floor of the elevator.

He coldly returned her agonized gaze, watching as her eyes pleaded again and again for a reason to this pain. It was so strange and new to her, something unpleasant long forgotten and now cruelly resurrected. It had been so long since she knew such throbbing, and even longer since she had actually bled. Now she was forced to remember, and it came as a shock, the pain only compounded by the humiliation of having its perpetrator be Asakura Hao himself.

In a moment, Jeanne's legs had given way, and she sank to the floor, her eyes glazing over. In a cascade of silver tresses, she slumped forward, her blood on the floor creating a red stain on her front as she fell. Hao frowned, wiped off his arm with a handful of her hair, and stepped back.

He hadn't expected it to quite be like that. He had imagined the demise of the persistent female Agent several times before, but it hadn't been quite like that. Something about it seemed wrong, that she should suddenly become so fragile and break like she had. He had imagined a more violent destruction, in the vengeful spirit of the Agents, but she had merely wilted like a flower in late autumn.

He shook his head, clearing the thoughts. What did it matter, anyway? She was gone now, and would bother him no more, though it was a pity the fight hadn't been more interesting. He was about to turn his attentions to exiting the stopped elevator, but then froze.

Jeanne's left hand had twitched ever so slightly…or was he mistaken?

Hao looked again, and this time there was no error. He watched in surprise and slight horror as she drew back one hand, and then another, and slowly pushed herself up off of the floor. The blood on her face was half dried and sticky, but she took no notice of it as she raised her head to glare at him, new vigor flaming in her eyes. He took an involuntary step back. She was an Agent, a figment of data; there was no way she should have been able to survive his data warp, and even if she had, there was certainly no way she should be able to move at all.

Silently, with purpose in her every movement, Jeanne stood up. She did not touch the wall, or even brush against the railing for support, but straightened, with terrible resolve in her eyes. Hao did his best not to gape, and managed to succeed.

Now, there comes a time in every man's life when it is wisest to say in the face of a problem, "I'm terribly sorry, but I'll have to get back to you about it next Tuesday." And though Hao was the type of man who liked to deal with a problem (and burn it to powdery ashes) immediately, he also had the sense to recognize when the problem is one that he would not be able to solve right at the moment, and perhaps not even by next Tuesday.

So it was that when Jeanne lunged forward with a new, ferocious attack, she suddenly found no one there and looked up just in time to see Hao disappearing through the small door in the elevator's ceiling. A brief spasm of irritation crossing her face, and Jeanne used the railing for a step up and managed to scramble out, her eyes already combing the shaft for her quarry.

He was already out of sight, though, and she merely stood motionless on the top of the elevator, gazing up the shaft, the fury in her eyes dying down to a smoldering resolve.

---

Yoh hit the elevator down button again and stood back, wondering why it wasn't coming at a time like this. His arms were starting to hurt from Anna's weight, as light as she was, and all he really wanted now was to get out of the building and back into the Nebuchadnezzar. He hadn't heard or sensed anything from Hao, either, and he wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but he certainly hoped he'd meet up with his brother.

He continued waiting, frowning in puzzlement. Sure, the contraptions had a reputation for being slow, but not this slow. The dial above the doors didn't even register any movement. A sudden rattling in the ceiling above him tore his thoughts away from his impatience, though. He could sense something moving above him, deliberately and with confidence. He hurriedly looked up and down the halls, his eyes darting about in search of another possible exit.

If it was an Agent or one of their probes…

Not that he would really mind one or two – despite all warnings, he was still curious as to what the Agents were like – but he had the still-unconscious Anna in his arms, which would complicate things badly. He would be fighting handicapped, as well as having to protect her at the same time. He could work something out, but he would have to think quickly…

The movement continued in the ceiling and then paused by a vent. With a sudden crash and a small flurry of dust, the grate gave way, clattering to the grounds with a human-like form on top of it.

Yoh gave a half smile as the figure stood up and shook out his long hair, brushing at any dust possibly clinging to his clothes. "Oniichan! Aren't you supposed to be holding off the Agents?"

"Change of plans," replied Hao, turning and starting quickly down the hall. "Come on. We're leaving."

"Coming!" replied Yoh, a little breathless, trying his best to match his brother's speed. It was impossible, of course, and soon Hao turned to see what was taking so long.

"Oh, Anna weighting you down?"

Yoh paused for a moment to catch his breath. "I'm not used to carrying people," he protested.

For a moment, Hao considered offering to carry her himself for a while. The idea certainly had its advantages, he decided, eyeing her limp form. Then the image of her waking to find herself in his arms crept unbidden into his mind. For a moment, he could feel the smarting of her slap on his face and the intimidating flare of indignant rage in her eyes. It wasn't exactly something he greatly desired to repeat.

Then he pictured it happening to his dear, naïve little brother. And he smiled.

"Well, do your best," Hao advised, turning to continue on down the hall.

Yoh gave a small sigh, readjusted Anna's weight in his arms, and continued to follow his brother until they reached the end of the hall.

Yoh looked about. "It's a dead end, Niichan. Now what?"

"No, it's not," retorted Hao with a grin, drawing back his fist and slamming it into the glass.

Yoh watched open-mouthed as the tinted clearness cracked and shattered, its fragments raining down on the pavement so many stories below. "Oniichan, that's vandal – what are you doing??"

Hao looked back from where he stood, poised to leap from the window. "I'm going to jump, as are you. It's our escape route."

"But…"

"It's just like the jump program, silly. Come on; there's nothing to worry about."

"But I failed the jump program," blurted Yoh miserably, catching his brother's sleeve in desperation.

Hao turned around, the surprise evident on his face. "You _failed_ it?"

Yoh nodded, wishing they were not having this conversation at all.

The elder Asakura scrutinized his brother's face, unable to comprehend this new development. "How is it that my twin brother failed such a test? And after what the Oracle sai—" He stopped abruptly, apparently unwilling to divulge further information.

"What did she say?" queried Yoh, eager for the conversation to take off on a new tangent.

"I'll tell you –" the slightest trace of a smirk flashed across Hao's face, making Yoh's heart sink "—down there!" In an instant, Hao had seized his younger brother's arm and pulled him up on the empty windowsill, nearly dangling him over the edge.

"Stop, Niichan! I have Anna!"

Hao gave one glance to his brother, and one to the still-unconscious young woman in his arms. The unpleasant smile reappeared, this time remaining fixed on the elder brother's face. "Then you'd better learn how to land real fast!"

It was a matter of a simple shove between Yoh's shoulder blades.

Hao watched with amusement as his brother plummeted, hair literally standing on end both from the wind and possibly from fear. His arms would have been flailing as well, Hao decided, had his grip on Anna not been so tight. The long-haired twin gave a soft chuckle and then launched himself into the emptiness after his brother.

Yoh squeezed his eyes shut, his stomach rising in his throat. He probably would have been upset with his brother had not a numbing sort of shock come over him. The next building's rooftop was coming up much too quickly, it would all be over soon, he was sorry he had Anna, if only Hao hadn't been in such a troublemaking sort of mood…it's just that he didn't want anything to happen to Anna.

If only there was something he could do.

He opened his eyes in time to see the concrete rooftop come up underneath his feet; out of instinct, he pushed off against it as if to make another jump. The next moment, he realized to his surprise that he was whole; there had been no sensation of snapping bones and crushing pain, but only a freeing lightness and feeling of elation he didn't understand. And then it hit him; he had survived the jump; he and Anna were still alive, and he was practically soaring through the air.

He heard a whoop behind him and turned his head to see Hao following behind, catching up with the finesse of experience, an I-told-you-so grin plastered on his face. "Whaddya think of it, huh? Next step'll be flying."

"Flying?" asked Yoh, unsure of whether or not he liked the idea. The initial excitement of jumping from building to building was already beginning to fade as he realized how very high up he really was.

"Of course. It'll take a little time, but I'm sure you'll get used to it. I'm not quite done mastering it yet, but in a few more days, I can help you start."

"Oh," was Yoh's only reply as he tried to contemplate this new development and coordinate his landings with solid surfaces at the same time. At the same time, though, a blissful lightness seemed to wrap itself around him inside; he had managed to rescue Anna and escape the Agents, and all they needed now was to get to a phone and everything would work out just fine. He could go back to playing with controls on the Nebuchadnezzar and fixing things in his leisure time or searching the matrix programs for good music. He wouldn't have to worry about Anna dying or horrid things like that.

True, a creeping feeling of reality did begin to tug at him, reminding him of those who had died so recently and the damage that had been done, not to mention the problem of Hao's plans to wipe out humanity and the Agents. But none of that was a pressing issue at the moment, and he pushed it away, telling himself that everything would work out.

And then every thought vanished as he sensed the slightest movement in his arms.

Hao, leaping ahead, was lost in his own thoughts, similarly as complacent as his brother. After all, this had been a splendid chance to show off his fighting prowess and be a general nuisance to the Agents. He had had a dreadful amount of fun, and he decided to store their various expressions forever in his memory. Though he wasn't sure why his data warp had failed to destroy Jeanne. Being completely data, as Agents were, it should have been devastating, yet she had survived.

A voice cut through his musing, cold and sharp and utterly outraged. "You _PERVERT!!_" He winced as the exclamation was followed by the quick, loud crack of palm on face and the voice added a command through clenched teeth. "Get your hands _off_ of me!"

So, Hao thought with a smile, Anna dearest has awakened.

_To be continued…_


End file.
